


"Whatever Happened to Captain Rex?"

by Longlivetheclones (TrapperWolffe)



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody Needs a Hug, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Clones, Fake Medicine, Force-Sensitive CC-2224 | Cody, Gen, Hurt CC-2224 | Cody, Hurt CT-7567 | Rex, Hurt/Comfort, Jedi Clones (Star Wars), Protective CT-7567 | Rex, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 56
Words: 138,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28822314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrapperWolffe/pseuds/Longlivetheclones
Summary: Rex and Ahsoka are on a secret mission to take out a Separatist weapons facility when disaster strikes.  Rex is sent off to Kamino, but his medship never arrives.  This is the story of what happened to Rex.  Includes graphic descriptions of battle scenes and some romance scenes.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Barriss Offee, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Original Clone Trooper Character(s) & Original Character(s)
Comments: 172
Kudos: 167





	1. Disaster on a Mission

**Author's Note:**

> This is an alternative universe story containing OCs. I welcome all feedback, positive, negative and everything in-between. Your comments make me a better writer and I thank you for taking the time to share your polite opinion. This is a completed story containing 150 chapters, plus a character guide, (chapter 151.) I'll be posting a new chapter daily.
> 
> Thank you for reading and enjoy the story. - Longlivetheclones.

Rex chewed his lip in concentration as he focused intently on wiring a det. It was the last in an impressively long chain of explosives rigged all over the Separatists' munitions facility. He'd been sent on this mission with Skywalker's padawan, Ahsoka Tano, and she was dutifully guarding his back while he wired the explosions. Maybe a bit too enthusiastically. She was pressed so close to him he could feel the heat of her back even though armor and his blacks.

"Everything OK?" Ahsoka whispered.

Rex glanced back at her over his shoulder, still wondering why she felt the need to be that close to him. He blew out a breath and turned back to the wiring. He tugged off one of his gauntlets so he could run his fingers lightly over the connectors. Rex nodded with satisfaction, as he double-checked by feel that every connector was perfect.

"All set, Commander," he acknowledged.

They carefully backtracked out of the massive warehouse in the cover of darkness. Rex took a deep breath feeling a slight bit of tension ebb now that they'd made their way back outside again. They moved away from the huge structure and sprinted for the woods nearby. As he ran, Rex reached a hand down to double-check that the remote detonator was still secure in his belt pouch. He knew he was being paranoid. He'd already checked for it at least a dozen times. There was just so much at stake with this mission. On the other side of the planet, General Kenobi and Cody were on their own mission to take out a facility even larger than this one. And, far overhead, General Skywalker was busily engaged in a diversionary space battle keeping attention away from the facilities being breached down below.

The planet, TriLuna VII, was yet another Separatist outpost in the Outer Rim. In the mission briefing, Rex had learned that the system was considered "lucky" because all seven planets in the TriLuna system had exactly three moons. Rex briefly glanced upwards and tried to find some beauty in the night time sky.

Nope. Just looked like a bunch of moons. And, not much different from every other kriffin' planet I've been on in recent months. They're all blending together and looking the same now. Let's blow this thing and get out of here.

Rex immediately called them to a halt using hand signals, and with another efficient movement of his hand, signaled to Ahsoka to take cover behind a nearby patch of boulders. Ahsoka had learned the clone hand signals as well as any member of the 501st. Rex slid the remote detonator out of his belt pack, and studied it for just a second.

There is so much riding on the success of this mission. This needs to work.

Ahsoka crouched down into a ball, tucking her montrals in protectively. Rex depressed the detonator, and there was an odd moment of eerie calm before the ground rocked violently. Despite her Jedi skills and training, the padawan was almost knocked off her feet. Accustomed to being around live ordinance since early childhood, Rex had an easier time keeping his balance. His helmet dampeners kicked in protected him from the tremendous noise of the enormous factory's demise. He felt the force of the explosion vibrate through the soles of his boots, giving his feet an odd, prickly sensation.

The explosion lit up the night sky, causing the local wildlife in the forest around them to shriek in terrified protest. Immediately after, everything grew eerily silent as if all of the creatures in the wild had gone into hiding from this new threat. There were a few hisses and pops from secondary explosions.

"Alright?" Rex leaned in to peer at Ahsoka, his blue T-visor still reflecting the explosions.

"I'm good," Ahsoka nodded as she rubbed at her head ruefully. "Might have difficulties hearing for the next week. But, I'm good."

Rex stepped out from behind the boulders and stood up. He reached a hand down to Ahsoka and pulled her up. The clone captain looked back toward where the Separatist warehouse once stood. In its' place was twisted, snarled metal and fireball that swept high into the night sky.

"Mission accomplished," Rex said, the satisfaction evident in his voice. He took a few steps forward so he could get a better vantage point of the destruction.

Ahsoka could swear he almost seemed to be swaggering as he took those couple of steps. She rolled her eyes. Clones and their explosions. The love of blowing things up seemed to be part of the Fett genome.

Suddenly, her Force senses gave her a warning.

"Down!" she yelled, diving straight at a startled Rex. Despite his greater mass, Ahsoka succeeded in taking Rex down to the ground. A scant fraction of a second later, blaster fire tore through the air above them.

The telltale sounds of metallic clicking was unmistakable, even over the cacophony of nightime animal sounds.

"Droids," Rex hissed, pushing his commander unceremoniously behind him and lobbing a droid popper in the direction of the blaster shots. The night illuminated with a white crackling hum before everything grew unnaturally quiet. Rex held up a hand, waiting while he listened for any further droid movements. He scanned with his helmet, not detecting any signs of activity. In the absence of any animal or machine sounds, a thick feeling of tension hung in the darkened night. "Alright, let's move out. This way to our RV."

They were still on course and just needed to get to the RV point where they would wait until Commander Cody and General Kenobi finished their portion of the mission. All teams would be extracted at the same time. It was too risky to send down multiple evacs due to the space battle raging above. So, they had enough supplies with them to last for several days. They just needed to find a safe place to shelter until they could get off the planet.

Rex adjusted his pack lightly on his back as they walked along at a brisk pace. He glanced around at the local fauna visible by the reflected light of the moons. TriLuna's vegetation was oddly shaped, bleached and spindly. The whitish trees reflected the ample moonlight like a ghostly horde staring down at them.

Not liking this place, Rex thought, scowling fiercely at the local fauna. He glanced over at Ahsoka. The padawan seemed unaffected by their surroundings. She walking along lightly on the balls of her feet, humming a tune under her breath. Rex dropped back and decided he'd watch his commander's back. It was his duty, after all.

Although, after they'd walked several more clicks, he'd realized his mind had wandered and he was literally watching her back. It was not a displeasing sight.

"Rex?"

The Jedi's voice so startled Rex that he stopped short, causing him to have an uncharacteristic stumble before catching his balance.

The Togrutan arched an eyebrow at him. "You alright there, Rexster?"

He scowled, not particularly fond of her predilection for nicknames. "I'm fine. Commander." He was not going to explain himself.

"Where did you think those droids came from?" Ahsoka asked, taking a sip of water from her canteen, "I thought all the droids were supposed to be inside the warehouse guarding the munitions? We destroyed the warehouse."

Rex grabbed his canteen off his belt and shook it lightly; gauging how much water he had left. He made a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat as he considered the question and then took a small sip, not wanting to use up all his rations. If Cody and Kenobi ran into trouble, which they often did, they could be here a while. "The intel could've been wrong." He gestured to the trail ahead, indicating they needed to move back out.

Ahsoka slid her pack on and took point. Even with his night vision goggles, she could see better at night. They walked on, emerging onto a barren, rocky plain.

This terrain just keeps getting worse and worse, Rex thought with a scowl. This is a great place for an ambush...

His hand automatically went to his belt, resting onto his blasters. He shrugged his shoulders, feeling the comforting weight of the rifle nestled there. Normally, he didn't carry a DC-17, but they were going to be on the planet for at least two days. They were both wearing full packs and Rex was packing extra ordinance. Ahsoka had opted for her customary lightsaber.

I don't like this at all. His gaze kept sweeping back and forth across the terrain. They needed to find someplace to shelter for the night. Originally, they'd planned on making more headway toward the RV point under cover of night.

However, the original plan hadn't called for running into droid patrols either.

An uneasy feeling swept over him as he surveyed the terrain again. A feeling that something just wasn't right.

Ahsoka spun around to face Rex, halting in place.

The clone opened his mouth to object, glancing around at their surroundings with a tactical eye. This was no place to stop. The open terrain was ripe for an ambush.

"Rex," Ahsoka stopped, her body tense like it did when her Jedi sense were screaming a warning.

The Captain wanted to tell Ahsoka they needed to get moving again- away from such an open space. But, he didn't get a chance. For the second time that night, Ahsoka dove on top of Rex, flattening him into the dirt. Rex hissed in irritation as all the air was pushed from his lungs, even by the small form of the padawan.

"Next time just warn me," he grumbled, helmet jammed down in the dirt. "Better yet, yell 'down!'."

Two bursts of fire skimmed right over them.

"Down!" Ahsoka jammed his helmet back down into the dirt.

Rex could feel the heat even through his armor. His attention was immediately diverted by the situation at hand.

What kind of munitions generates that kind of heat?

Both Ahsoka and Rex immediately rolled back to their feet again, their movements completely automatic from years of training. Ahsoka came up slightly ahead of Rex, lightsaber in hand, deflecting shots back at the droids. Rex sprang to his feet a half-second later, his twin blasters in hand. He immediately began sighting and firing upon targets. An impressive assortment of battle droids was steadily advancing forward, intent upon intercepting them.

"This is not good," Rex said, quickly counting up the number of droids, and not liking the odds, "we are seriously outnumbered. We need to find cover."

"Go!" Ahsoka yelled, "I'll cover you."

Rex hissed in frustration again. He was obligated to obey a direct order from his commander. However, his instincts and duty told him his duty should be to protect her first. And, he knew Skywalker would have his head if he let anything happen to his padawan. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Rex did as Ahsoka ordered. Still firing, he retreated, scanning the landscape for cover. There was very little. At the edge of the field, there was a scant copse of trees and a single unimpressive rock. It wasn't even big enough to qualify as a boulder. But, there was nothing else. Rex sprinted across the field and dove behind the rock, blaster fire following him the entire way.

"I'm in position, Commander," Rex said into his comlink.

As soon as Ahsoka made it across the field, Rex was going to make her go behind the rock and he would take position behind the trees. She would have the greatest chance of survival utilizing the superior cover. The 501st Captain switched from his blasters to his rifle. He sighted down the scope, taking shot after shot on the droids, drawing their fire his way.

The Jedi padawan began running, half turned backwards, so she could still deflect shots with her lightsaber. Not for the first time, Rex wished Ahsoka wore armor.

When we get back to the ship, the Commander and I are going to discuss armor again, Rex vowed, wincing as he watching the hails of fire surrounding the commander.

Fleet footed, Ahsoka quickly arrived at the edge of the field. She leapt behind the copse of trees, taking up a warrior's stance with her lightsaber. The menacing line of droids continued to advance steadily upon their position.

Kriff! How many of them are there? The shots from the droids were coming at them so fast now, Rex didn't need to worry about accuracy anymore. Speed was paramount. In one smooth, liquid, practiced move, Rex slung the decee onto his back and switched back over to his twin blasters.

Rex had developed an extra strong aversion to commando droids since he'd been ambushed by a pair of Commando droids the previous month on the farming planet of Saleucami.

In recent months, there had been a surge of commando droids specifically zeroing in, and attempting to assassinate, command clones, such as Rex. In the past month alone, the 38th Armored Division, 187th Legion and 442 Siege Battalion had all lost commanding officers. If not for a bit of turbulence under his air speeder, Rex knew the shot that burned right through his chest would have punctured his heart cavity instead, killing him instantly. He'd almost ended up as yet another assassinated command clone.

Rex saw yet another row of super battle droids move into position. They automatically took over the positions of the droids Rex and Ahsoka had painstakingly eliminated.

"Shab," Rex muttered, quickly checking the charge on both his blasters. If the charge started running low, he'd need to switch back to his rifle. Out of the corner of his eye, Rex saw movement. He spun to the side just a fraction of a second too late.

As if in slow motion, he saw the shot coming toward him. Many thoughts spun through Rex's mind as he watched the unusually bright shot coming at him.

Once again, he thought with a military tacticians mind, What kind of shot generates that kind of intensity? Something isn't right here…

Everything seemed to slow-down into a sort of distorted version of time. Rex knew he wouldn't be able to dodge the shot in time, despite the seeming slowness of everything that was happening around him. Even as the shot grew ever nearer, and hotter, kriff, it was hot!, he knew he could not even try to dodge it. His heightened intelligence calculated all the angles. If this shot missed him, it would continue on through and hit Ahsoka.

It seems to be coming so quickly, and taking forever to get here. Why is it so hot?

This is not good, he thought as he felt the heat from the shot a moment before it even hit his armor.

The pain was even greater than he had anticipated. The sound caught him completely off-guard. He heard the completely unfamiliar, strange keening sound of his knee armor splintering. Then, suddenly, so many sensations were shooting through his body at once that he couldn't process them all. He didn't pass out, so much, so much as feel his body completely shut down from shock. Some part of him was dimly aware that Ahsoka had shouted his name. He wanted to respond, but he completely lost the ability to do so. The battle continued on around him, but he was unable to move, breathe, feel, or even blink.

Rex could hear Ashoka, but couldn't get his body to cooperate in any way.

# # #

Ahsoka turned in time to see Rex fly sideways and hit the dirt hard, landing at an awkward angle. One of his blasters flew out of his hand, landing a few feet away.

"Rex!" Ahsoka cried out in alarm.

Blood continued to pool around under him. Ahsoka felt a moment of pure panic completely overwhelm her, unlike anything she'd every felt in all her years of Jedi training.

No, not Rex. Anybody, but Rex. Please, no. Not Rex.

"Rex!" she shouted into her comlink. He didn't respond at all. No verbal response. And, he didn't move at all. He just continue to lay there. Unmoving and bleeding out on the ground as the droids continued firing around them.

Ahsoka knew she should be practicing some Jedi calm right now, but she was far too panicked for Jedi calm.


	2. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Rex being hit with a new Separatist weapon known as "the clone shredder."

Rex could heard a voice, but it sounded muffled and indistinct. He was cut adrift in a sea of unending blackness with no sense of up or down. Rex tried to pull himself up out of the darkness, but he kept getting sucked back down into the inky well of unconsciousness.

Awareness started to trickle back as his gut roiled and clenched in an all-too-familiar sensation the way the body violently rejected being severely injured.

Fek. Have I been flying with General Skywalker again?

Pain signals crept through, blending with the nausea. A selfish part of his brain, devoted to self-preservation, wanted to stay down. Moving was going to hurt. He waged an internal battle, clawing his way back against the darkness.

Blaster fire. E-5s. E5cs. And, RG-4Ds. Without opening his eyes, he knew he was surrounded by Seppie droids. His eyes immediately snapped open at the second which was blending it all together. The hum of a lightsaber.

He tried to say the word: "Commander," needing a status report. The sound which came out of him was not at all what he'd planned. It was the pained sound of an injured man.

Kriff.

He had to get it together. He had to protect the commander. No matter what was wrong with him, it was still his duty to protect the commander.

"Rex," Ahsoka's voice was one step short of being panicked.

He attempted to clear his throat, and after a short bout of coughing, finally managed: "I'm... OK."

He was definitely not OK.

But, at least he'd managed to get out those two words. That alone had been a huge effort.

A painkiller and a stim. That's all I need. I'll be OK. I can fight.

Rex tried to push up from where he was lying prone on the ground. But, when he tried to move his injured leg, he was assaulted with waves of white-hot agony.

Rex clutched at his leg with one hand, and his vision began swimming again. He took several long, gasping breaths, and his vision slowly focused again. He was able to pivot enough to retrieve one of his blasters, but the movement sent jarring waves of pain through his leg. He let out a long stream of language worthy of a Hutt. OK, some of it might have been in Huttese. He'd learn a lot from Skywalker. Belatedly, he remembered to cut his comms.

Great. The commander heard all of that.

Ahsoka rose up from her cover to get a better vantage point of Rex. She'd heard his salty language. She wasn't offended. She'd heard her master used the same expressions on more than occasion. She was concerned because it was out of character for Rex to speak in such a way in front of her. He was normally protective of her. Annoyingly so.

A blaster shot narrowly missed her, skimming the top of one of her lekku. She yelped, more from surprise than actual injury.

"Keep your head down!" Rex yelled at her through the comms, and then in a softer tone, he asked. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Ahsoka huffed, dropping back down as she spoke through the comms, although any sort of injury to her lekku hurt. Darned things were overly sensitive to touch. "It's you I'm worried about."

Rex's only reply was a grunt, which wasn't overly reassuring.

Satisified his commander had pulled herself behind adequate cover once again, Rex was focusing on getting to his feet. Something he normally took for granted, now seemed an impossible task. But, he had to protect the commander. With one huge effort, calling upon the part of himself that was pure Jango, Rex pulled himself upright. This time he made sure his comlink was off because he swore a long tirade as he did so, trying to vent out the pain.

He sensed danger very close to him. Rex snapped his eyes open. Commando droids were bearing down on him, intent on finishing him off. Their yellow eyes were zeroed in on him with deadly intent.

"I don't think so," Rex hissed. Adrenaline flooded his frame and the pain was gone. This was an opportunity for vengeance to what they'd done to him on Saleucami. This was for the fellow command clones they'd killed. His training took over and he focused on their head circuits. Two neat and precise shots and the commando droids were no more.

The surge of adrenaline had held Rex's queasy stomach at bay for a moment, but the moment the commando droids were down, everything in Rex's stomach came up. He ripped his helmet off just in time as everything came violently up. He hadn't even meant to heave all over the commando droids - they just happened to be right in front of him.

The Captain could feel blackness closing in again. But, he knew if he gave in to the darkness, he likely wouldn't ever wake up again. He jammed his helmet back on and yanked himself back to an upright position. Rex leaned back against the rock, panting heavily. He kept one hand tightly cupped over his knee, trying to stem the bleeding. In the other hand, the Captain clutched his ever-present blaster. With a shaking hand drenched in blood, Rex tugged supplies out of his belt pouch. He tore open a package with his teeth. Hand still trembling, he pressed a synth-flesh patch on his damaged knee. The clone lay back for a moment, taking steadying breaths.

He studied his injured leg and scowled fiercely. Even with the wound patch, blood continued to flow out from his knee. Rex grabbed a second patch, trying to reinforce the first one. The trembling in his hands was getting worse. The Captain knew the shaking was from shock. He tried to still his hands, so he could get the bandage on properly but it only seemed to magnify the trembling. He knew he was close to passing out. He finally succeeded in getting the patch on, and then jammed a painkiller directly into his leg close to the site of the injury. The clone captain leaned his head wearily back against the rock, unmoving, while watching things spin wildly around him in nauseous circles.

"Rex?" he heard the Togrutan's voice coming through his comm, but couldn't find the energy to respond. "Rex?" The query came again louder, with almost a tinge of panic.

"Still with you, Commander," Rex finally responded, without moving at all. He tried to sound steady and reassuring, but it was an effort to speak at all. It was difficult to draw in air and breathe between the bouts of pain.

And, everything is fekkin' spinning.

He closed his eyes for a long moment trying to battle down another vicious bout of nausea. It didn't work. He yanked his helmet off, braced himself with shaking hands and retched again in the dirt. Rex couldn't help the small moan which escaped him. Admittedly, he was getting worse. He wasn't going to last much longer. He was either going to pass out, or march off into the great beyond soon. But, he was in rough shape.

A sharp cry from Ahsoka diverted his attention. A near miss peppered the Jedi padawan with wooden shards from a nearby tree.

Rex hissed angrily, and another surge of adrenaline flooded his system. Ahsoka looked over toward him and their eyes met. They were going to take these droids or die trying. He nodded to Ahsoka and returned his attention to firing on droids, grateful his body was still hanging on a few more minutes.

I just need to hang on long enough so the commander can live.

There was so much light from the three moons that it was very easy to see the droids. The problem was there were so many of them.

It was difficult to concentrate between the throbbing pain and the roiling nausea. But, if he was going down, he would do so fighting. There was no more worthy end for a clone soldier of the Republic.

Ahsoka looked anxiously over at Rex. A steady stream of red was still dribbling down his leg armor. She felt like they'd been at this for hours. She was tiring, but she could call upon the living Force to sustain her longer. Rex didn't have that option. He was going to bleed out if she didn't get to him, and soon. She looked back over at Rex's leg armor again. His armor wasn't just punctured and blackened, like a normal blaster impact. Rex's armor was shattered.

The revelation suddenly hit her with gut-wrenching certainty: Rex had been hit by the same 'clone-shredder' rounds they'd been sent here to destroy.

A set of commando droids circled away from the main throng, headed back toward Rex. It was clear they meant to finish off the wounded Captain.

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed and she bared her teeth as she watched them stalking their prey. She flashed back to how upset she'd been after Rex's mission to Saleucami. Rex had downplayed the severity of what happened, but the blaster hole on his armor said differently. And, he'd been ordered directly to medbay upon returning from the planet. Ahsoka had cornered Kix and Jesse later on in the mess hall and made them tell her the whole story.

She heard an angry hiss coming from Rex. A lucky shot had blown Rex's rifle out of his hand. Rex switched back over to his one remaining blaster. He glanced down checking the charge. Ahsoka could tell from his worried expression that he was almost out of power.

A second group of command droids stalked in from the other side, trying to catch Rex in a crossfire.

Something deep and primal stirred inside Ahsoka and the living Force responded with a surge of energy. Real-time slowed down. The blaster shots were still coming, but she had more time to react to everything around her. Ahsoka sprinted across the 30 feet separating her from Rex, easily crisscrossing the complex cradle of blaster shots. She leapt in front of Rex, getting her saber up in time to deflect back the hail of shots meant to eliminate Rex for good. Rex startled slightly at her sudden appearance, but recovered quickly and leaned in under her cover fire. Together, they continued to take down the droids coming at them. They'd always made the most amazing team.

Ahsoka peered down at Rex, leaning against the rock. Blood was pooling around his feet, dark in the moonlight.

The mechanical droids could keep this up for hours, even days, until their ammo or batteries ran out, but Rex couldn't. Without help, he would soon bleed out.

Ahsoka had to end this - now.


	3. To Save Rex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the droids circle to finish off the injured clone captain, Ahsoka is desperate to save Rex.

Rex looked down at his blaster, which was nearly drained, and then reached to his belt for a spare clip. His hand came up empty.

Fek.

How long had they been at this already? He didn't even remember slapping in the spare clip.

This was not good. He was losing focus, and he was almost out of ammo.

He ejected his vibroblade, temporarily soothed by the solid 'schunk' and motion of it as he wielded it.

They're not getting to the Commander unless they get through me.

He grabbed the rock for support and forced himself to stay upright by sheer force of will. He positioned himself between Ahsoka and the advancing droids. Everything spun alarmingly around him, but he forced himself to stay in position. He didn't mind dying, just so long as he was sure he took down enough of these tinnies so the commander could get out of here.

The droids started closing in, tightening their circle.

The lead B-1 stepped forward, pointing his E-5 directly at Rex. "Surrender, Republic dog!"

"I don't surrender," Rex growled. He rolled to the ground so he could grab the blaster which had been blown out of his grip. The pain from his injury nearly did him in, and his vision went red and hazy. But, he still groped for this blaster, and sensing more than seeing, he fired at the battle droid. He heard a thunk next to him, and knew he'd hit his mark. The clearing echoed with the sounds of weapons charging up, and he knew all the droids were preparing to fire on him. He was out in the open now on the ground, but at least he was armed. He was dying anyway. He might as well take as many of these droids down as he could. He started firing off shot after shot. His entire focus was on taking down as many targets as he could.

Ahsoka knew immediately what Rex was trying to do.

He's trying to sacrifice himself for me. I won't let him. We are getting out of here together.

She saw a shot coming for Rex and leaped in front of him to block it with her lightsabers. Rex leaned out from behind her and kept firing. As they fought together, she became fully aware of every sound and smell. The tang of sweat coming off of Rex. His labored breathing. The slight whirring of the circuits and servos which powered the droids. Her own heartbeat.

She had been raised to protect others, and that included Rex. But somehow, her bond to him was different than the others, and for this moment, she called upon the strength of that bond.

The Force sang in response.

Energy surged.

But, would it be enough?

Ahsoka had seen her Master do amazing things with the Force, some of them extraordinarily powerful and maybe she could-

The energy surged again, but the gentle song was now roaring chaos. It was frightening, even to Ahsoka, and she was not sure if she could control what she had unwittingly created. She struggled to contain the growing tidal wave of Force energy knowing it must be released before it consumed everyone and everything around her.

The Jedi padawan lifted her arms and the droids rose in the air just as they began to fire. In their circular formation, they directly caught each other in a massive cross of friendly fire. Shrapnel flew, headed toward them in a deadly hailstorm of metal fragments and sparks.

Ahsoka threw her arms forward, her skin scraping up against Rex's armor. The droids were hit with a violent Force push, the likes of which Ahsoka had never unleashed before. The energy wave hit the line of droids like a violent landslide. With their energy weapons still discharging, the effects were catastrophic. The final push ended the droids, creating a chain-reaction explosion.

A wall of flame surged toward the two Republic officers.

"Down!" Ahsoka yelled. (Although, even as she did, she knew she would hear about it later from Rex. He had already ducked and was trying to pull her down to take cover.)

She dodged Rex's efforts to throw her under him and use himself as a human shield against what would be a fatal hailstorm of metal, even with his armor. With palms outstretched, she drew up a Force shield over them.

Time seemed to stand still as fragments pelted down over them.

Can't hold it...

Ahsoka's inner defense's weakened.

Exhaustion made her arms tremble to the point she felt her very limbs shaking.

Metallic shards continued to rain down against the shield in a deadly hail.

No, no, no.

Please.

She called upon the Force, begging for a little more strength to finish the task she had begun. She received a small answering surge but knew she would pay for it later in exhaustion. In what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only seconds, everything finally grew silent.

Her shield immediately crumbled.

She was sure she would never be able to raise another.

Or, ever move again.

"Commander? Are you alright?" Rex's voice finally roused her from her stupor. His voice was gravely and labored, yet the stupid bantha was asking about her.

"I'm fine, Rex, just tired. We need to do something about you. Your leg-"

He shook his head. "No time. We need to find better cover. It's not safe here. There could be other droids in the area."

Ahsoka glanced around the site of their recent battle. There was shrapnel everywhere and no decent cover. She could see Rex was trying to mask his pain, but he was right. It wasn't safe here. They had no choice but to move on.

"Hand me my rifle," Rex directed, and then tried to use it as an impromptu crutch to push himself up. He hissed with pain, and started shaking from the effort of trying to rise. Ahsoka grabbed him under the arm to support him. "OK, I think I'm alright now." He shook off her efforts to help him.

As soon as he tried to take a step forward with his impromptu crutch, he doubled over and she could feel his waves of pain in the Force. Pulsing hot waves of agony from broken bone, ripped muscle and torn cartilage. It was excruciating to experience it through the Force. She couldn't imagine the pain Rex was experiencing at this time.

He put up a hand to keep her at bay. He slowly straightened up, his breathing ragged. "Just need... a micro-sec, Comm... ander."

She'd seen Rex injured in battle before, but it had never been just the two of them like this. Kix or Coric was always there to handle the more serious injuries. But, she still knew when to take charge. She'd learn a lot about leadership from Anakin. "No, Rex. Hold up. You can't go anywhere in this condition. I'm going to field dress that injury, and then we'll move on."

Rex stared down at his leg as if her words were finally registering and then nodded with acceptance. He leaned down to start unhooking his damaged leg armor, and then hissed in pain, his hands shaking.

Ahsoka placed her hands over his, blood streaming freely over both of their hands. She tried to ignore the sensation of his blood pooling over both of their hands. "Let me help."

Rex blew out a frustrated breath and finally relented.

Ahsoka started by undoing the gription plates higher up on Rex's leg, taking them off with great care. She removed his cuisses and greaves, saving the poleyn for last. All of his leg armor was either cracked or shattered. Ahsoka felt a pang of regret, knowing the care Rex lavished on his armor, and how much it meant to him. And, she still had to remove his poleyn which was covering the site of the injury. She put her hands over the offending piece of armor. He tensed up and his breathing came out as a ragged gasp.

"I'm sorry," she looked into his eyes and noticed all the adrenaline flooding his system had caused his eyes to dilate.

"Go on," Rex said, his voice harsh and tight as he struggled to maintain control. He closed his eyes and took deep steady breaths. "The leg is fractured," Rex stated with the grim certainty that came from battlefield experience, "two fractures, more likely... gah!" His fists clenched with agony, and he went eerily silent as she pulled the poleyn away.

She risked a quick glance at him. He was an unhealthy shade of white for a clone. She shoved the shattered poleyn into his hands, knowing he'd want to see it.

"They're... field-testing the... new rounds," Rex's voice was grim. He held the bloody plate up, studying the damage.

She dug into her backpack for a lumen. "I need to open up your suit." She reached her fingers down to just above his knee and took a deep breath. Her fingers trembled, and she hesitated.

"Do it," Rex said, his voice sounding worse as the minutes passed, "or I will."

Ahsoka took a deep breath and pulled the hook and latch enclosure apart before she lost her soon as she was done, she began to talk the clone through the next steps of what she was doing. "I'm going to give you a stim and a painkiller. Could sting a bit."

Rex snorted in response.

She glanced up at him. "What?"

"Not sure it could hurt much worse, Commander." He had a bemused gesture on his pale face. "Have... at it. Sting a bit."

She smiled, glad she could amuse him despite all of his pain. And, knowing that despite everything, he was... still Rex. And, gah, so reassuring and exactly what she needed.

"Thank you," she said, glancing up and giving him all the smile she could muster.

"For what?" his brows knitted with puzzlement. "I got shot." His expression and tone made it clear this was some sort of failing in his duty on his part to be injured.

She was not going to argue with him now and ruin whatever slight good moment they'd enjoyed. She quickly changed the subject. "Painkiller. Stim." She did the injections quickly, exactly as she'd been taught by Coric. His eyes started to dull over quickly. "That's my second sharp of painkiller. Two's the-"

"-limit. I know, Rex. Both you and Coric have explained this countless times."

More than two sharps damage to the liver, kidney or brain. Three sharps was a sure way to a fatal overdose. If you timed the sharps too closely together, you could give yourself a narcotic hangover.

Rex shrugged, "I'm nothing if not thorough-" he cut off when Ahsoka peeled back the synth-flesh patches over the wound.

His fists clenched, digging into the dirt.

Performing emergency field medicine on anyone was difficult. A fellow Jedi. Her master. One of the clones in her care. But, for Rex, one of her closest friends, it presented a new level of difficulty. Maybe this was what they meant about attachments.

She focused her attention completely on the knee injury. The round had gone completely through his knee, taking much of the cartilage of the kneecap with it. Rex was right about the fractures. Ahsoka knew from her classes at the Academy he'd gotten lucky. The knee doesn't have a good blood supply or her captain would have bled out already.

"Rex hold still..." she put a hand on his chest, and glanced up at his face. She gasped. He'd gone completely white, and his entire body swayed. He made an inarticulate sound before he slumped forward. Ahsoka dropped the bandages she was holding and made an awkward grab for him.

But she was too late.

# # #


	4. Clone Shredder Ammo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the pale light of the three moons of Tri'Luna, Ahsoka struggles to save Rex's life.

Rex collapsed into an awkward heap on the ground and didn't move.

Ahsoka sank down to her knees, next to him and slid her fingers under his neck seal to feel for a pulse. It was thready, but there was definitely still a pulse. She heaved out a sigh of relief. "Don't you leave me, Rex," she muttered, gently tugging his upper torso back into a more comfortable position against the rock. She leaned his head back gently, ensuring all his limbs were supported. She tried to focus her thoughts, taking deep breaths.

Rex didn't move or react, at all, as she moved him. It was unsettling. She missed his constant meddling and telling her what to do.

"I'll get you fixed up," she vowed, fighting against the waves of exhaustion tugging at her now that the fight was over. It was tempting to call upon the Force again for just a little more strength to get through. But, one could not keep pulling up the well. Even the Force had its own rules and limitations.

If Rex were conscious, he would tell her to focus. Remember her training. She had field training, much of it done by Rex himself. And, she'd taken a course in healing at the Jedi Academy. She'd learned through that course she was not particularly skilled when it came to Jedi healing techniques. But, still, between her Jedi training and what she'd learned from Rex, she knew something about wound care.

She cleaned her hands all the way up to the elbows with sani-gel and then added on a pair of sterile gloves for good measure. She frowned as she peered at the wound. There was dirt in it, likely from his recent fall. She dug into the medkit for a wound sanitizer spray. Ahsoka chewed her bottom lip in concentration as she worked, trying to make the spray last as long as possible as she cleaned his knee. She probed the wound, focusing on trying to debride it as much as possible. Until Rex was back in a medsuite, she was his best chance of survival. Three years of seeing injured clones on the battlefield had eliminated any squeamishness she'd ever held against blood and gore. She had a task to do, and she would get it done.

Ahsoka paused when she came up against something that felt _wrong_ somehow. She leaned in, trying to see inside the wound. It was difficult with the poor lighting and blood still bubbling up. She continued to probe around with her gloved fingers.

Ahsoka took another deep breath, and this time allowed some precious use of the Force, despite her exhaustion. She extended her senses.

_Sith's blood. What's this?_

Her fingers probed gently at the wound. She gasped as she came up with a sizable fragment. Rex gasped and reared up as the fragment pulled free, and then slumped back again. She could tell in a glance he was unconscious.

She held the triangular-shaped, bloody fragment up so she could catch it between the light of the lumens and the moonlight. It was a piece of Rex's armor. But, it had blown right into his knee cap.

This was clear evidence of what the new _clone-shredder ammo_ could do when it came up against clone armor.

The clone-shredder ammo had been the topic of many debates in Republic meetings lately. Knowing Separatists were working on this deadly ammo and were close to rolling it out, the Republic was working on a "Phase II" armor for the clones. As far as she knew, Rex was the first clone to get hit by the deadly new ammo. She shook her head as she looked again at the damage to his knee.

"Rex," she murmured and felt a cold chill sweep through her chest. There was just so much blood. She began applying pressure to the wound to slow the bleeding. "Don't die on me. That's an order."

Rex was unresponsive in the pale moonlight of the three moons.

Ahsoka applied more pressure, bacta, and a seal. The seal didn't appear to be holding. She tried applying a second seal from the medkit and held her breath and waited. It held.

It just needs to hold until we can get him to a medsuite. Maybe Kix and Coric can-

She shook her head. This injury was beyond what could be fixed back onboard the ship. With an injury this severe, he would be sent away to one of the larger medcenters. He would be gone for a while. And, some clones who were sent away to medcenters did not return. Whenever she tried to ask Rex what happened to these clones, he wouldn't answer. She assumed they were reassigned elsewhere, but this didn't explain why Rex wouldn't discuss it.

With great care, she applied an inflatable splint to his leg to hold his broken leg in place. It would at least provide some cushioning. She'd have to move him soon, and she didn't want the broken bones jarring the injury.

_That's it. I've done all I can for now._

Ahsoka rocked back onto her heels.

Exhaustion was threatening to pull her down. But, I must keep moving...

She slipped her datapad out of her pack and double-checked coordinates.

Ahsoka gathered up the supplies, and the trash, and quickly stowed everything back into her backpack.

She stared down at Rex. So still.

She didn't like seeing him this way. Even worse, she knew how much he hated to be seen in such a weakened state.

They couldn't stay here. They had to go the RV Point.

She took several more measured breaths. She called upon the Force again, knowing she was pushing herself so far beyond her normal reserves. Energy flowed back into her, but it was just enough. She didn't feel good. Just barely able to function. The Force was sending her a message.

_Yes, I know. I understand how far I'm pushing it right now._

__

She bent down and lifted up the clone Captain. She hefted him up and over her shoulder in the same wounded man carry she'd seen the clones do hundreds of times. It was awkward and his armor pressed into her painfully. And, he was _heavy_.

__

"When you recover," Ahsoka muttered, "we're going to have a serious talk about the number of Corellian puddings you put away."

__

# # #

__

__


	5. Smells Too Good to be Cody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A groggy Rex tries to figure out who is carrying him

Rex woke up slowly. He squinted, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. His brain was having difficulty processing, although he could tell he was injured. Badly. It was the only time his mind worked this _effin_ ' slowly. Everything was off. His skin was crawling and he was nauseous. Telltale signs of painkillers in his system. Judging by the too rapid beat of his heart, he'd had a number of stims, too. He shifted, trying to ease some of the discomfort.

_OK. Ow. Ow. Ow. Bad plan._

His slight movements made the pain worse. He groaned and tried to shift back to his original position.

"Force! Hold still, Rex. It's hard enough carrying you."

He froze. Trying to make sense of the voice.

_Who is carrying me?_ _Cody?_ _Smells too good to be Cody._

His brain was still muddled and couldn't make sense of what he was hearing. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to backtrack mentally.

_A mission. I was on a mission. Clone-shredder ammo. Protect the commander-_

"Commander Tano?" Rex called out, trying to lift head to make sense of his surroundings.

"Yes," the padawan confirmed. "Stop shifting around. You're hard enough to carry as is." Her voice took on a teasing tone. "We need to talk about your habit of double desserts-"

"Commander, you can't _carry_ me!" He lifted his head up higher, looking around in alarm.

If it was one of his vode carrying him, it wouldn't be an issue. But, this was Skywalker's padawan. She was just a tiny little thing, and he was the _captain_ of the 501st. No, this could not be happening...

His pride ached worse than his leg.

"Rex, hold still or I _will_ drop your big bantha hide."

"Put - me- down," Rex ground out. He attempted to use his captain-in-charge voice. But, in his current situation, it didn't seem to hold the same weight.

"We agreed you can't walk. You passed out. This was the alternative."

" _This_ is not an alternative," Rex tried his captain-in-charge voice again, hoping it came out better this time."Commander, you will _not_ carry me."

_OK, she was, in fact carrying him._

He was about to argue the point again when a wave of nausea hit. "Down," he groaned, trying to sound commanding, but aware his voice came out as little more than a croak. He didn't even register when the commander placed him down and removed his helmet. He was too consumed with dizziness and nausea, but he was dimly aware of being rolled onto his side. He was familiar with the signs of shock from severe injury. But, usually, Coric or Kix was there with some sort of shot to handle situations like this one. He wasn't sure which was worse; the pain from his shattered leg or his roiling stomach.   
  
He was dimly aware of the commander speaking to him in low soothing tones as his stomach seemed determined to turn itself inside out. When the worse of it was over, he peered up at the commander. "Leave me. Go to the RV point."  
  
The commander retracted violently as if he'd hit her. "No."  
  
"You can't fight and _carry_ me," Rex objected.

"And, you can't give me orders, I outrank you."

Despite his misery, he still smiled slightly. Despite everything they'd been through over the past three years, there were times when the commander's behavior reminded him of the impetuous padawan he'd first back on Christophsis. He'd vowed to himself then he wasn't going to let anything happen to Skywalker's young padawan, and that hadn't changed. He shook his head. "You should still go."

"I'm not leaving without you. We'll go together." She held out her canteen. "Take a small sip."

Rex shook his head and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. "Not a good idea." He'd just finished emptying his stomach.

"You need to stay hydrated. Basic battlefield survival. Taught to me by someone who claimed he had a great deal of _experience_ ," Ahsoka chided gently.

He gave her a look, but couldn't deny she was right. With the commander's help, he managed to down a small sip of water. He shook his head slightly and muttered a few unsavory things under his breath about 'commando droids' and the Seppies who commandeered them.

Ahsoka regarded him for a moment and then smiled at his rant. "You're starting to sound a bit more like yourself. Drink just a little more."

He did feel better as the liquid hit his system, and it washed away some of the acid taste in his throat. He closed his eyes again, but with the water now in his system, he found he wasn't so tired. He struggled to sit up and get a better sense of his surroundings. "I'm alright," he insisted, hoping if he said them he could make it true. But, as soon as he made it upright, everything started to spin around him alarmingly.

_I will not pass out again._

But, he knew this was one battle he could not win. Blackness closed in on him again.

# # #


	6. Alone on a Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alone on a mission, Ahsoka is the only hope to save Rex.

Ahsoka's elation at seeing a small improvement in Rex's condition was immediately dampened as he slumped sideways and lost consciousness again. She gripped him by the chest armor to brace him before he hit the dirt.

"Hey, you've spent enough time hitting the dirt today trooper," she chided gently, easing him down to a more comfortable position.

Rex muttered incoherently, his head moving back and forth restlessly. Ahsoka had seen Rex injured before, but they always had the skilled medics of the 501st to back them up. Her job was to defend and lead. Occasionally, she would imitate her Master and say things like: "See to it the injured." But, she never had to triage the wounded herself.

She closed her eyes and took several slow and even breaths, visualizing the medics working on the battlefield. They were always calm, even in the heat of battle.

When she was a new padawan with the 501st, Rex had spent a great deal of time training her. At first, she knew Rex was only doing it because he'd been ordered to get her up-to-speed on Republic protocols by her Master. But, very quickly, she and Rex formed an unlikely friendship, and she found herself looking forward to her lessons with him. She always learned a great deal from the stern and knowledgeable Captain. She focused now and thought back to those lessons.

_Analyze and then act._

She opened her eyes and studied Rex carefully. His breathing was ragged and his pallor was white in the moonlight. She gently placed her hands on either side of Rex's leg. Healing his injury was beyond her abilities, but she could bring him some temporary pain relief. She focused now on calming nerve endings firing out of control. It was exhausting work and she knew whatever relief she provided him would be only temporary. But, it was worth it as she saw his expression calm and his breathing even out. She turned her attention back to his leg.

_I triaged his injury, but I must be missing something._

She dug out her lumen and carefully removed the bone stabilizer from Rex's leg. She glanced up at Rex. He didn't move, and she was glad he was at least getting a few moments of rest. She removed the outer layer of bandages down to the wound itself.

"You're still bleeding out," Ahsoka muttered to Rex.

"Kolta," Rex muttered, his eyes only open a slit and watching her.

"What?" Ahsoka startled, not realizing he'd awakened.

Rex pushed himself up onto an elbow to get a better look at his injury, carefully stifling back a groan. She gripped his elbow to help him prop himself up slightly. His eyes were starting to take on an odd glassy look, but he blinked hard, trying to focus. "Wounds this severe... they... don't always clot... I've... seen this before. See... if there's some kolta in the medpac." He made a slight impatient gesture with his hands, but there was no... energy to the movement. "And, then bind it up again."

Ahsoka dug quickly through the medpac, locating a small tube of kolta. "Alright, found it. "I'll do this as quick as I can."

Rex nodded with approval and slumped back down against the ground. Ahsoka worked quickly to apply the kolta. The slightest brush against his wound caused him to jerk, but he didn't make a sound. She quickly talked him through what she was doing. "The kolta is on, and I'm applying a spray bandage. I'll add a regular bandage on top of it. Let's see if that holds."

Rex was still. She wanted to rouse him and have him reassure her she was doing everything correctly. But, she let him rest. She was not the same impetuous padawan who had caused so much trouble after being first assigned to the 501st. She was in charge of Rex now until they were safely evacuated and she could safely get both of them out of here.

She gritted her teeth for a moment, cursing the orders which were keeping them here. Their orders were clear. They had to wait until Obi-Wan finished his portion of the mission, and then they would evac together. It was a two-part mission and it was critical both portions be completed.

Ahsoka repacked the wound, carefully applying the bone stabilizer, and then lifted Rex back into a wounded trooper carry. He didn't make a sound as he was lifted. His silence was worrisome.

She started walking again, aware of how the toll fatigue was taking on her body. She wouldn't do Rex any good if she passed out from exhaustion.

_I need to find us some shelter._

She cleared her mind and reached out with her Force senses searching... _there_. A cave in the hills up ahead. High in the hills. But, it was shelter. And, they could still reach the RV point somewhat easily from there.

Each movement was exhausting and Rex seemed to grow heavier as she walked. Had she ever been this exhausted before? For Force's sake, how long were nights on this planet? She let her thoughts wander and focused on keeping one step in front of the other, while still keeping her senses extended for the presence of droid attackers. After hours of walking, she reached the entrance of the small cave.

She eased Rex down onto the ground so she could investigate the temporary shelter. She was exceedingly careful as she eased his leg down against the dirt and rocky ground, using the Force to cushion him down as gently as possible. But, the slight movement still woke up Rex.

He peered at her with glassy, bloodshot eyes. "Commander?" He looked around them. "Where's the 501st?"

"We're alone here on a mission," she reminded him and pointed down to his leg. "You were shot... by commando droids."

Rex frowned and stared at her as if having difficulties processing this information. "Commando droids..." he muttered, his hands automatically slid down to his twin blasters. "Here?" He looked around in confusion.

"No, not now," she corrected. "I... we... took care of them. They're gone now. I found us shelter. I'm going to check it out," she scrutinized him, analyzing his mental state. "Are you alright?"

Rex scowled at her but didn't say anything. She had no idea how to interpret that scowl. Did that mean stop asking me that? Or, I'm not fine, I've been shot? Or, even if I wasn't fine, I would never admit it?

"I'll be back as quickly as possible. Comm me if you need me." She couldn't resist looking back over her shoulders to check on him. He was watching her carefully with both blasters drawn. His hands were shaking and his eyes were still glazed and unfocused in the moonlight.

# # #

_I know that look. She thinks I'm going to karkin' shoot her in the back._

Rex snorted and checked the charge on his blasters.

_That'll never happen. I'd die before I let anything happen to my commander._

Taking a deep breath to brace himself for more pain, Rex painstakingly dragged himself to a better position so he could survey the mountainside below. He had to move in frustratingly small degrees, as the slightest movement made fire erupt in his leg. After what seemed like the longest drag of his short life, he finally repositioned himself where he could better survey their surroundings. He used the sensitive scanners in his HUD to check for tinnies. He wasn't going to let those commando droids get the drop on him again.

It was clear. No signs of droids. Barely any signs of wildlife. The explosion seemed to have scared everything into hiding. Off in the distance, the munitions storage facility was still smoldering.

_At least we accomplished our mission. The mission comes first. Always._

_Hopefully, Cody is having success on his end. We'll be out of here soon._

A muscle spasm in his leg made his entire vision go red. He pressed a fist down to his bandaged and splinted leg, grimacing.

"Commando droids," he muttered with disgust, tasting acid as he said the words.

He stared down at his leg and wondered how long he'd be out of action this time. He could tell this injury was _bad_. Injuries of a certain severity caused troopers to be sent _away_. This was much more than a blaster wound or a fracture. There was a terrible sinking feeling in his gut he might not recover this time.

# # #


	7. Attack in the Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka and Rex take shelter in a cave

Ahsoka walked deeper into the cave she had selected as their temporary shelter. The small beam of the flashlight danced off the walls. Other than the overly large, complex web of some insect Ahsoka hoped she'd never meet, the cave seemed safe enough. She gave the webs a wide berth. She'd learned most creatures left you alone if you weren't part of their normal diet, and you didn't threaten their young.

She didn't see any signs of eggs. Or, the occupants of the web.

_Shouldn't be a problem._

She eyed the size of the web one more time.

_Unless whatever made that web is an opportunistic feeder..._

If they had the luxury of time, she would search out another location. But, Rex was gravely injured and time was not on their side. They would just have to take their chances. They could do with a bit of luck today.

She quickly returned to where she'd left him outside. He was sitting up ramrod straight, scanning the surrounding mountainside.

"Commander," Rex acknowledged with a nod as Ahsoka crouched beside him. "No signs of pursuit." There was something to his voice, though, which wasn't quite _Rex_.

"That's good, Rex."

They both took a moment to look out into the moonlight valley. It was quiet now, and even the still smoldering factory in the distance look peaceful in a way.

"I found us shelter," Ahsoka said.

Rex gave a slight nod but didn't comment further. She could sense despair from him, an uncharacteristic emotion from the clone who had become her closest friend in this war.

"Hey," she said softly, "it's going to be okay. I promise."

His eyes met hers, but he did not smile.

"Come on," she urged, "let's head inside."

Rather than carry him, she helped him walk the short distance. It was slow going, but they managed to hobble the short distance in careful spurts.

Ahsoka eased Rex gently down against one of the cave walls. Their only sources of light came from her lumen and the twin headlamps on Rex's helmet. The beams of light bounced off the walls in every direction as they moved into the cave.

"This cave extends deep into the interior of the mountain. I only explored back for a short distance. I found evidence of local insect life, but that's about it," Ahsoka reported to Rex, intentionally leaving out the part about the oversized webs. He had enough on his mind and didn't need to needlessly worry about the local denizens. It was her job to do the worrying now.

Rex nodded his head, to acknowledge he'd heard Ahsoka, but remained silent. He seemed locked inside himself, sinking into a pit of despair. She wasn't sure how to get him out of it.

She knelt down in front of him to check the bandage on his knee, trying to find words of comfort. She found herself thinking of the most comforting person she knew. "Rex... I know this is difficult, but..." Her Force senses screamed a warning as a huge shadow descended upon them. 

She sensed as much as saw the enormous spider dropping onto their position. But, the spider detonated with an ear-splitting screech just as the sounds of twin blaster fire echoed in her ears. She whirled on Rex in surprise as chunks of smoldering spider erupted all over them. His blasters were still pointed at the creature, and he was _laughing_.

OK, apparently, he didn't need defending. Since he was still fully armored up, he didn't feel anything as the gooey, hairy, sticky bits showered down all around them. Ahsoka, on the other hand, in her less than extensive coverings, got a full hit of the remains of the enormous creature. A particularly impressive amount of gooey bits was entangled in her entrails, and she struggled hard not to shiver with revulsion. She was not a padawan. She would _not_ flinch.   
  
Rex was still _laughing_.

Ahsoka turned and glared at him.

"You think this is funny?"

Rex nodded, trying to hold back his laughter, as befit his station as a Captain, but failed miserably. "Explosive spiders," he said, pointing to the carnage around him. "Amazing!"

Ahsoka reached a hand up, trying to extract some of the goop from her montrals. She only succeeded in getting it all over her hands. "Gah!" she hissed in frustration realizing she'd only succeeded in spreading the greenish insides from her montrals to her hands.

Rex inhaled deeply, trying to get a hold of himself. "Commander, these will help," Rex handed her a packet of the durable utility wipes the clones kept in their belt pouches. He gave her a scrutinizing look, sucking in a deep breath, still try hard to contain his amusement.

Ahsoka tried to clean herself off, but the excess amount of goop on her hands made it impossible to get any cleaner.

Rex watched her struggle and then reached a hand out for the wipes. "I better do it, Commander. You're a mess."

"Watch it, _Captain_ ," Ahsoka grumbled, but, in truth, she was grateful for his change in mood and to see him behaving like Rex again. The itching feeling of the spider bits on her montrals was driving her crazy. She bent her head down to allow him better access. He had a surprisingly gentle touch.

_Think of it like when Coric tends to you when you're injured. A clinical touch._

_Force, this feels nothing like when Coric touches me._

But, if Rex was having the same emotions, he was not showing it.

"Who knew those things were so combustible?" Rex said, switching over to her hands and cleaning one after the other with crisp, military efficiency. "I wonder if there are more of them back there." Rex mused out loud and looked around with great interest toward the back of the cave. He was clearly thrilled at the prospect of insects that blew up like bombs.

"Maybe if get lucky," Ahsoka said, dryly, "another will try to attack us."

"You think so?" And, he sounded much too enthused about the idea to Ahsoka's liking. He shook his head after a moment. "No. Just ran the species against my HUD. They're a derivation of another type of cave spider on Ramos IX. Highly territorial."

"How disappointing," Ahsoka said dryly.

"Right? It's too bad the boys missed this," Rex shook his head in wonder. He temporarily stopped in his cleaning duties, and Ahsoka was sorely tempted to tell him to get back to work. Surely she had some more spider bits somewhere? But, to her disappointment, he handed her the pack of wipes. "I think you're alright now. You can finish up from here."

He left her to it and switched over to checking his blasters instead. She continued scrubbing herself clean as she watched him go through his familiar ritual of unseating and re-seating the charge packs to ensure there was a tight lock. He clicked them into place with a steady chunk, before tucking his twin guns back into their holsters. He looked up after a long pause and she could sense the change in his mood. He said to her quietly. "Commander, thank you."

"For what?" she looked at him, puzzled.

Rex made a gesture toward his injured leg, and then toward the cave. He gave a gruff sigh as if it was difficult for him to say. "For.. getting me here and... treating me like I matter. For not leaving me behind, even when insisted you do so... I... ah... haven't made any of this easy."

Ahsoka took a moment to formulate her reply. "You are my best friend, Rex. The one who keeps me sane during this war. If anything happened to you," Ahsoka tried to find the right words, but her voice hitched, "if you weren't here, I - I don't think I... could do this without you."

Rex studied her for a long moment and then gave her hand the lightest of squeezes.

He gave her a slight, reassuring smile. "Hey, hopefully, it won't come to that, OK?"

"Of course it won't!" Ahsoka said forcefully. "We're going to finish this war together."

Rex gave her a small smile, but couldn't comment. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach and he didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep.

There was an awkward silence between them, and the mood was dark. And, then as he looked toward his commander, he realized they'd both missed a darkly colored spider bit attached to the commander's clothing.

"Commander, you have something-"

Rex carefully scraped the item off her shoulder with one gloved hand. He held it up for inspection and then ejected his vibroblade so he could use it as a pointer. "This is one of the arachnid's eight eyes. Completely intact, too. This is fascinating. You can see here this type of spider has reflector eyes which allow it to see better in the moonlight. Must be an adaptability trait allowing them to better survive here on TriLuna-"

Ahsoka put up a hand to forestall any more of Rex's anatomy lecture. Sometimes the intense flash training knowledge ingrained in the clones resulted in oversharing of information.

Rex shrugged and flicked the oversized spider eye across the cave where it landed with a schlopping sound against the other gloppy pile of bits.

Ahsoka shivered. There was something about that sound. Set her teeth on edge.

"You alright?" Rex asked.

"I'm supposed to be asking you that question," she insisted.

"I'm fine," he stared down at his leg, and then removed his helmet and met her gaze squarely. "Alright, no, not really. But, I'm alive thanks to you."

"Then, there's hope," Ahsoka said, reaching out to give his hand a gentle squeeze again. He accepted the gesture and returned it, squeezing her hand for a brief moment before dropping it.

##

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the readers of this story, Toxo on Deviant, created a comic strip to go with this chapter. 
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/toxo/art/Rex-s-third-eye-522069784
> 
> The wording is slightly different in the comic strip as the story has been revised several times over the years. A huge thanks to Toxo for the wonderful fan art!


	8. Human Shields

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rescue isn't coming anytime soon

Several minutes later, Ahsoka had nearly finished setting up their camp. Rex had grown silent again, positioning himself up against a cave wall cleaning off his armor. As disgusting as it had been to be covered in bits of arachnid parts, Ahsoka was grateful for the diversion the spider had provided. The incident had temporarily lightened Rex's mood. Like all clones, he seemed to a fondness for detonations.

But now, the energy he'd gained from the diversion had faded. He was focused now on his gear, cleaning it with slow, methodical strokes. But, his movements were slower than usual, and he was stonily silent.

Ahsoka finishing positioning their lumens about the cave, hoping it might ward off any more visitors.

"How's that?" she asked, trying to draw Rex out of his silence. He normally always had comments when they were setting up camp planetside. It was Rex's way.

It took the clone captain a long moment to look up and register she'd spoken. He looked around, giving their camp a perusal with weary eyes and then nodded. "It'll do." He reached up to switch off his headlamps, which had been helping to illuminate the darkened space.

"Hand me your bedroll," Ahsoka said. "I'll set the beds up over here." She pointed to a spot toward the middle of the cave, away from the damp walls. She planned to put their bedrolls side-by-side. Clone brothers always slept side-by-side, and Ahsoka generally slept right alongside either her Master or the clone troops. She had no intention of sleeping anyplace except right by Rex's side. They'd always treated her as one of their own.

Rex reached into his pack and grabbed out the compact bedroll. He tossed it to Ahsoka, but his movements were off. All of the clones could thrown with precision which could rival a Jedi. But, she had to reach to catch the roll. This alone was telling. She placed the bedroll down and cleared her throat to get Rex's attention. "Look, Rex, I know we're supposed to wait on Master Obi-Wan and Commander Cody, but I think we should consider calling for an early evac-"

"No," Rex shook his head emphatically before she could get any further. "The mission comes first. Always."

"Rex, we don't have the right medical supplies to deal with-"

"No. The mission is too important to compromise because of one man."

Her jaw dropped and she stared at him. "You are not just one man! You're..." she stopped, not able to put into words what she was feeling.

He filled it in for her. "I'm expendable, as are all clones. The mission comes first. We wait for General Kenobi and Commander Cody."

A stony silence filled the cave and he went back to cleaning his armor.

Ahsoka knew not to push him anymore, for now, so she focused on setting out their bedrolls. She was surprised when he spoke again. "Commander, when we complete the mission, you must not, under any circumstances, tell the men you carried me."

Ahsoka blinked at him, and then despite everything, she couldn't help herself, she laughed.

Rex glared at her.

"You're serious? You want me to tell people you hopped across TriLuna with a shattered leg?"

Rex gave a grave nod, considering her words. Then, he reconsidered and cracked the smallest quirk of a smile. "I'd prefer hobbled. But, yes, that's the idea. Thank you, Commander, for understanding."

She folded her arms across her chest. "Actually, I don't understand. Why is it OK for clones to carry each other when injured, but I can't do the same for you? We fight together and train together every day."

"It's different," Rex insisted as if that much should be obvious.

Ahsoka shook her head. "I don't see how. Is this because I'm a Jedi?"

"What? No. It's because you're a- a... a... uh..." he flushed, and made a vague, general gesture toward her person, refusing to make eye contact. Ahsoka noticed his face had reddened slightly.

Ahsoka twisted her lips. "Ah, I see now. Would it have been different if Skywalker carried you?"

"End of discussion. Nobody carried me."

"Fine," she shrugged, knowing the medics would immediately figure it out when they saw his injury and the others would likely be so enamored with his tales of the spider they wouldn't care how he made it across the planet. It would quickly become one of those tales repeated again and again in the mess and the rec room. She was suddenly missing the Resolute very much and wanted nothing more than to be back in the safety of the ship, with Rex safely in the hands of the medics. He would be alright, wouldn't he, as long as he had a bit of time in the medbay? She tried to quell the nagging doubt that this injury of his was far more serious than anything she'd seen on him before. She would need to check the bandages again soon, but wanted to give him a few more minutes to rest up after their long journey here. Every time she touched his injury it caused him such pain.

She settled onto her bedroll and started doing an inventory of supplies, setting the medical supplies out separately. Out of the corner of her eyes, she kept an eye on Rex. He was disassembling his blasters to clean them. Normally, the action seemed to soothe him, but now she could sense he was agitated. Having nothing else to do, she sat on her bedroll and watched him work. He quickly finished one blaster and then set to work on the other. Once finished, he put the blasters back in their holsters, then took them out, checked the charge settings and put them back. He crossed his arms restlessly, blew out a long breath irritably, then took his blasters out of their holsters' again, and checked the charge settings again.

"Rex?" she ventured from her bedroll.

"What?" he snapped, pulling his blaster out again, and starting to disassemble it once again. He shifted undercomfortably, hissing at the pain from his leg and then staring down at the injury like it was a droid which needed to be destroyed.

She considered sending him some calming feelings through the Force, but decided against it at the moment. The timing didn't seem right. She tried to think of the right words to make the situation better, but came up blank. "Ah..."

Rex stared at her, the expression on his face stormy. "What- is- it, Commander?"

A voice on Rex's comlink interrupted the tension.

"Captain Rex, this is General Kenobi. Do you copy?"

Rex immediately brought his wristlink up to his mouth, and in his normal crisp command voice said, "Rex here, General."

"What's your status?" the Jedi Master asked.

Rex's voice was all calm and professional, with no hints of agitation as he reported in to Kenobi. "Mission completed, sir."

"That is good news. Well done, both of you. What's your position now?"

If the clone captain was pleased by the praise, he didn't show it. He was completely stoic as he reported in, "We've taken shelter for the night. We're on track to meet you at the RV tomorrow."

"Yes, well, we have to push back the RV time," said Master Kenobi's voice over the comm. Ahsoka's eyes grew wide and alarmed, and her gaze immediately flew to Rex's splinted and bandaged leg.

Rex calmly responded: "Acknowledged. Is everything alright, sir?"

"It is taking longer than expected to make the factories on our end go away. There are prisoners inside. Human shields. We believe they are our own troopers."

"They're holding our own men as human shields?" Rex questioned, the disbelief clear in his voice, with a hint of outrage at the situation.

"Yes, Cody did some scouting around. A large number of them, too."

Rex's fists clenched and unclenched against the floor of the cave, before he asked, "What's your plan, General?"

"We'll be freeing all of the prisoners, of course, before we blow the factory. Since you're done over there, we could use your assistance."

Rex sucked in his breath. Ahsoka saw his body immediately go taught, and felt tension ripple through him.

Ahsoka immediately intervened: "Rex is injured, Master."

Cody's voice immediately cut into the comm: "What happened?"

Rex shot Ahsoka an impatient look. Ahsoka gave him a look back that said: 'what was I supposed to do?'

"Rex? Ahsoka?" Cody prompted.

"Yeah, Cody, we're here," Rex said, unfolding his arms so he could speak properly into his comlink, "Intel was off. All the droids were not in the factory when it blew. We ended up in a heavy firefight. Commando droids ambushed me."

"Commando droids?" Cody questioned, "again?"

Tension rippled through Rex at Cody's comment. "Yes," Rex growled, "a fekkin' lot of them, too. Seemed determined to take me out. Watch your back. They're gunning for the command clones."

"There's more," Ahsoka interjected, not meeting Rex's eyes. He had intentionally omitted the severity of his injury in his report to Master Kenobi and Commander Cody. But, she had to tell them. Maybe they would send an evac. As soon as she made the decision, a sense of relief washed over her.

"Ahsoka, what is it?" Obi Wan asked, the concern apparent in his voice.

"It's not an ordinary wound. He was hit with a clone-shredder round," Ahsoka said, slowly and carefully, so that there could be no misunderstanding.

There was a long pause on the other end of the comm. It went on for so long that the padawan wondered if they had lost the connection. She wondered if Cody and Kenobi were conferring amongst themselves about this unexpected development. Finally, Master Kenobi came back on. "Ahsoka, how bad is it?"

"It's bad," Ahsoka said, "went right through his knee. It's shattered. Fractured. He can't move his leg at all."

Obi Wan's response was immediate and Ahsoka wanted to once again weep with relief. "I'm going to call Anakin."

The comlink call ended. Rex stared at Ahsoka for a moment, and then turned his face away from her, shaking his head. Any sense of relief she felt was gone. He looked so disappointed in her. Why?

"I'm sorry, Rex," she said, quietly, "I had to tell them."

She didn't think he was going to respond, so she was surprised when he responded almost immediately. When he spoke, his voice wasn't angry. It was almost devoid of emotion entirely, which was worse. "No. You didn't have to tell them. The more time they spend worrying about our end of things, the less time they are focusing on their end of the mission."

Ahsoka looked directly at Rex: "I won't apologize for trying to save your life, Rex."

He shook his head sadly, "You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?" Ahsoka looked at him, confused.

His voice was still completely devoid of emotion, "It's not about me. About us. The clones." He made a vague empty gesture with one hand, then let his hand fall limply to his lap. "The mission. It has to come first, otherwise when we die, we die for nothing." He looked directly at her, "When you take that away from us, you dishonor everything we stand for." He looked at her, and shook his head again.

Ahsoka felt a sinking feeling in her gut like she'd horribly disappointed Rex. She wanted to fix things, but she didn't know how. "Rex, I'm sorry. I..."

Rex closed his eyes as if trying to find patience from within. "It's... alright. Just not the choice I would have made." He shook his head again, and they waited in awkward silence for another comm with further news.

Rex's comlink chirped again a minute later. "Captain Rex, come in," said Obi-Wan.

"Rex here, General."

"I spoke to Anakin. I've made him aware of your situation. He's very concerned, but also completely unavailable. The Separatists have fully engaged him. His diversionary tactics have worked a bit too well, I'm afraid. At this time, any air traffic coming or going from the planet would very likely be shot down. Anakin is working very hard to clear the air space. If anything changes, they'll send a ship immediately. They are fully aware of the situation."

"Understood," said Rex, in his usual crisp, professional tone. His voice was completely different than the tone he'd used with Ahsoka just a moment before. "I'll be fine, General. Not to worry, sir. I'm sorry I can't be there to help with your end of the mission."

"I wish you were here, too, Rex. You're a good man in a fight."

"Thank you, sir."

"We're also going to work on getting to you. We'll rendezvous directly at your position once we've blown the factories, and liberated the prisoners."

"Not in that order, sir," Rex pointed out, deadpan.

Both Obi-Wan and Cody laughed.

"Yes, Captain, well said. We'll see you soon."

"Understood, Rex out." Rex closed the connection, ending the call.

# # #


	9. Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To save Rex's life, Ahsoka must take desperate action.

Rex sagged back against the damp wall of the cave. Ahsoka could clearly tell he troubled by the whole exchange with Master Kenobi and Cody. She knew that he felt it was his duty to be helping free the clone prisoners, and not doing so, was a failure on his part. "It'll all work out, Rex."

"If you say so, Commander," Rex said politely, but without much enthusiasm. He shifted uncomfortably, grimacing as he moved his leg.

"I need to recheck your leg," Ahsoka nodded her chin toward the medical supplies she'd laid out.

Rex nodded but paled slightly. She didn't blame him. The last time she treated his leg, the slightest touch to his injury had caused him great pain. But, as it was, she could feel his pain levels were already high and spiking higher. She had to do _something,_ even if their medical supplies were limited. She set to work undoing the bandages wrapped around his knee.

She hissed as she took a good look at it. The sealed bandage underneath was completely ballooned up with blood.

Rex leaned over to get a better look, switching on his helmet headlamps to provide better illumination.

"Rex, this is no good," Ahsoka shook her head, "you're still bleeding out. The sealant isn't doing its' job."

He studied his knee and nodded. "You're right," his voice was quiet and clipped. Too quiet.

"The wound just won't clot," Ahsoka shook her head, worriedly.

He tilted his head and his voice took on an eerie calm, even with the filtered sound coming through the helmet, "You're going to have to stop the bleeding, Commander."

"How?" Ahsoka stared down at the wound, "I've already tried everything in the medkit. The only other thing I have with me is my lightsaber-" She stopped abruptly and stared at Rex. "No, no, no. You couldn't possibly be thinking-"

He switched off the headlamps and pulled the helmet off. Her gaze suddenly flew to his and she saw the calm, emotionless look in his face. It was the same one he always had when about to go meet the enemy in battle when facing impossible odds. "I've seen a lot of men bleed out from wounds like this one. So, either we stop the bleeding, or I bleed out."

She gripped her lightsaber so hard her hand shook and her knuckles were white. "No. Don't ask me to do this."

Rex held out his hand, "Give it to me. I'll do it."

"You can't," Ahsoka gasped, "You'll pass out and cut your own leg off!""

Rex continued to hold his hand out, and look directly at her patiently waiting. The seconds ticked by as they stared at each other. But, she was aware, time was something Rex did not have anymore.

"OK, I'll do it," Ahsoka said, in a tortured whisper.

Rex gave her a slow, respectful nod and then leaned his head back. "Thank you."

Ahsoka checked her chrono, "It's too soon to give you another full dose of painkiller. Perhaps I could give you a half-dose before we do this-"

Rex shook his head. "No. No more. At some point, I'm likely to pass out anyway. Just get it done."

"Great. Just great. I'm liking this more and more," Ahsoka said, dryly, already feeling her stomach knotting up with tension.

"Don't overthink it, Commander. Just act. Have confidence in yourself." Rex's voice was calm and soothing just as it was when he advised shinies before their first battle.

Ahsoka quickly dried the sweat off her palms so she'd have a better grip on her lightsaber blade. Rex put his helmet back on.

"OK, here goes," she said.

Rex was silent. Ahsoka knew why he put his helmet back on - he was trying to make things easier on her again. His helmet was sound-proofed. He was sparing her from hearing the sounds he would make when she applied the lightsaber to his leg. She wanted to tell him to take the helmet off. She felt that if he was going to suffer this much, then she should suffer, too, and hear how much she was hurting him. But, part of her knew that Rex would then just try to hold everything back, and end up biting through his tongue. She respected his choice, and just let it go. He was naturally protective of her, and she'd come to accept it.

Ahsoka took a deep breath, then removed the sealed bandage from Rex's knee. Rex started and jerked his leg. He didn't make a sound, but she could feel how much the movement hurt him.

"Sorry," Ahsoka said.

"No, it's OK," Rex gasped out, "I'm good."

The pooled blood ran down his leg in a gush. She was tempted to try to clean it away. But, that seemed a hopeless endeavor as the blood would keep flowing endlessly. She wanted to tell him to brace himself, but it was probably better to just get it done. She inhaled deeply, calling on the Force for calm, and depressed the switch to eject her lightsaber blade.

Before she could stop or overthink her actions, she applied the blade lightly, but directly across his knee. Rex jerked but didn't make a sound. She moved the blade up carefully to ensure she cauterized the whole area so that-

"Rex, no!"

Halfway through the burn, Rex reached his hand directly into the path of the lightsaber.


	10. After Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka worries she made a terrible mistake

"Rex, no!"

Ahsoka was concentrating intently on cauterizing the wound with her lightsaber. Her focus was so single-minded that she almost didn't catch Rex's hand reaching up to push away the lightsaber from his leg.

She sent a forced command into his mind, ' _Sleep!'_ Normally that command knocked non-Force sensitives out immediately. But, Rex's body froze up and blocked her efforts. His thoughts were mired in confusion. But, somehow he could sense it was her even in his half-alert state. _'Commander?'_

Ahsoka gritted her teeth in frustration, not even able to comprehend how he was able to respond back. Leave it to Rex to be difficult now of all times. She sent the command more forcefully. ' _Sleep!'_

Rex's head drooped down against his chest and she quickly finished cauterizing the wound. Ahsoka set her lightsaber down and away from her, not wanting to touch it at the moment. Her Master was always saying her lightsaber was her life. But, at the moment, she didn't even want to look at it.

She reached up and grabbed Rex by the shoulders and eased him off to the side so that he was positioned more comfortably. She heaved out a long breath, briefly resting her head lightly down on her forearms to compose herself.

She chanted her favorite mantra a few times to get herself under better control.

_I am one with the Force and the Force is one with me._

Feeling better, she took another deep breath and turned her attention back to Rex. The cave smelled like burnt flesh. Ahsoka's stomach churned at the smell. She refused to allow herself to get sick. _I did what I had to do to save Rex's life._  
  
She retrieved the field medical kit and checked Rex's vital signs. Heart rate: strong and steady. Respiration: normal. Blood pressure: as near to perfect as a human can have, perfectly normal for a clone. Temperature: 101.3.

_Elevated body temperature. Is it hot in here?_

She reached inside Rex's bodysuit so that she could place a body temperature sensor right up against his skin. She frowned when she got the reading back.

As a Togrutan, she naturally ran hot and was resistant to temperature changes. As she focused her senses, she realized it was definitely on the cool side. Ahsoka rummaged through the medical kit, frowning.

_There's almost nothing left in here. Oh, come on, there must be at least a dose or two of antibiotics in here..._

Ahsoka found what she was looking for and pulled two syringes up to the light, checking dosages. She injected one directly into his leg and saved the other for later. She leaned back against the cave wall, taking another moment to rest.

"Ah, Rex, how do we always manage to get ourselves into these messes, huh?" Ahsoka said, gazing at Rex's unconscious form. She wrinkled her nose. The smell of burnt flesh wasn't a new smell to Ahsoka. It was a common enough battle smell.

When Ahsoka had first met Rex on Christophsis, Rex had told her that 'experience outranked everything.' Over the course of her first few weeks, she had quickly learned many things about battle, such as battles smell awful. Human bodies sliced, blown and burnt open had an unforgettable smell.

But, it did feel different somehow since the burnt flesh belonged to Rex and she'd been the one who'd burned him. She'd applied the lightsaber lightly, in a grid-like pattern, forming a square. She effectively sealed off the large area that had still been bleeding out. The wound was finally sealed. Ahsoka had been shaking internally while she did it, but, outwardly she was deadly calm. Her hands were completely steady. She'd applied her saber with the utmost care and precision just as she made been trained to since she was a young child.

Still, somehow this felt like one of the hardest tasks she'd ever been called upon to do as a Jedi. Even though she'd tried to apply to the saber as lightly as possible, trying not to burn him too deeply, she worried about the long-term effects. What if Rex had permanent damage from this? What happened to clones who were too injured to fight? Ahsoka didn't even want to pursue that line of thinking. It was too awful to contemplate.

Ahsoka shuddered as she thought of Rex's hand reaching right into the path of the lightsaber blade trying to push it away. The pain must have been getting too much to bear. Either consciously or subconsciously, he was trying to push away the instrument that was torturing him. It was then that the strangest thing had happened. Rex had responded back to her through the Force link. Ahsoka had heard his voice in her mind, as clearly as if she was communicating with her Master. She had no explanation for it.

She gave him another sharp of painkiller because she couldn't bear the thought of him being in pain when he woke up. As soon as she gave him the dose, she heard Rex's voice warning her about timing the doses too close together. When had she given him the last dose? She tried to do the mental calculations in her head, but she was too exhausted to think at the moment.

She decided to head outside to meditate to try to clear her head. Her nerves were totally frayed and she needed to clear her mind. The timing of the painkiller was nagging at the back of her mind, and she wondered if she'd just made a terrible mistake.

_# # #_


	11. Shrouded in fog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex wakes up disoriented, and unfortunately, he's armed.

Rex came to slowly, feeling like his consciousness was shrouded in fog. His mouth felt totally dry, and his tongue felt unpleasantly cottonlike. His limbs felt totally weighted down, and he didn't have the strength to move them. He tried to open his eyes, but they refused to cooperate. Last time he'd felt this shabla awful, he'd woken up in a medcenter, pumped full of painkillers. He'd broken a number of bones and had shrapnel wounds everywhere. His battalion had been on the receiving end of a particularly nasty barrage of artillery shells. He'd lost a number of good men that day. He had that same feeling of being drugged up now, except he had no memory of being evaced out from a battle. Rex took a deep breath, trying to clear his head and take stock of his surroundings. He inhaled cold, musty damp air which didn't make sense. He expected the stinging, sickly sweet antiseptic smell of a Republic medical facility.

Rex tried again to open his eyes, but his heavy eyelids stubbornly refused to listen. The musty smell was familiar. Like the damp monastery on Teth. Kriff! Was he back on Teth? Dark, bitter memories came flooding back at him with a rush of adrenaline. In his mind's eye, he saw Torrent Squadron barricading themselves inside the monastery.

Through a bleary, drugged, pain-filled haze, Rex saw the door of the monastery implode in. Super battle droids surged in, like something out of a nightmare, wave after wave, systemically cutting down all of Torrent Squadron. Rex relived every death, watching his brothers die. He heard their pained cries as they were hit, and crumpled down to the merciless stone floor. It happened again and again. Brother after brother dying and falling...

_No!_

His mind rebelled against the scene, trying to reshape the reality.

_Maybe there's still time to save my brothers..._

He had replayed, and relived, this scene so many times in his mind. He'd come to the guilt-ridden realization that if they'd pooled all the explosives they had left and set the charges by the door, the roof would have come down on the battle droids.

_Maybe it's not too late!_ _I can still set those charges!_ Adrenaline pumping, Rex struggled up to his feet, throwing himself upwards with a fierce battle cry. His battle cry immediately mingled in with a cry of pain as Rex's shattered leg collapsed under him.

Ahsoka was sitting outside, knees drawn up to her chin when she heard Rex's blood-curdling cry. She rushed back into the cave and saw Rex curled up into a ball, eyes squeezed shut. He was clutching at his leg, his face drawn tight with pain. She couldn't conceive of what had happened to him, but she only wanted to help him. She force leapt to his side to get to him faster. She gripped his shoulder, intent on offering him help as soon as possible.

Someone was attacking him. Ventress! Only the Sith witch could be causing him this much pain. Rex reached for his blasters, intent on taking out Dooku's assassin. She had killed so many of his brothers and now she would pay.

"Rex? Are you alright? What happened?"

Rex reared up wildly, grabbing Ahsoka. He drew one of his blasters and shoved it up against Ahsoka's forehead.

"Rex!" Ahsoka shouted.

The clone captain's finger trembled on the trigger, a micro-second from firing.

"Rex!" Ahsoka shouted again.

Rex opened his eyes, blinking rapidly.

Ahsoka reached out to him with the Force. He was blocking her out. She couldn't get through to him.

"Rex!" she shouted again, "Rex! It's me, Ahsoka!"

She tried again to reach him with the Force, but his mind was completely shielded.

"Rex! It's me, Ahsoka!"

Ahsoka saw recognition sink into Rex's eyes. His hand shook wildly and then he tossed the gun away. He fell back against the thin field blanket which was serving as his bedding, the Jedi padawan still pinned to his chest.

"Fierfek! I almost killed you!" Rex shouted, angrily.

He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, as if the light was suddenly too bright for him. His breath was breathing fast, too fast, and Ahsoka wondered if he was hyperventilating. She wondered if he was even aware that he was holding her splayed across his chest. Ahsoka knew more painkillers were out of the question, but, there was another way she could comfort him if he would allow it.

"Rex," she said gently, "I know you're hurting. You're badly injured and you've been running a fever. I can help."

He didn't respond, and she was worried he would lose consciousness again.

She tried again. "I can use the Force to help you, but only if you let me in. This is your choice." Ahsoka gently placed one hand on his forehead. "Do you allow this, Rex?"

His pain-filled eyes met hers, and finally, he nodded his head. She reached out to him with the Force again, and finally connected with him. She drew her breath in sharply. It was not what she expected at all. Connecting with Rex was not like connecting with other non-Force users. But, it also did not feel like connecting with fellow Jedi.

This connection was different than any connection she'd ever felt before. But, she would sort that mystery out another time. Rex was nearly out of his mind with pain. She worked with Rex, going deep down into his leg, showing him how she calmed down the muscles that were spasming out of control. Rex learned very quickly.

She took Rex's pain and shared it between them. Rex initially resisted, but, through her gentle persistence, finally relented to equal sharing. Once they were sharing the pain, she was able to show Rex how to compartmentalize the pain so it was not so overwhelming. She was even able to show Rex how she used the Force to take pain and use it as an ally. It was strangely intimate. Ahsoka felt a twisting binding interconnection between her and Rex. The longer she held the connection, the stronger it became. She was puzzled by this connection between her and Rex but thrilled by it at the same time.

As Rex's pain eased, she felt his entire body relax. He still didn't seem to be aware that she was splayed across his chest.

She reached her hand down and grabbed Rex's hand. After a moment's hesitation, she felt his strong, much larger hand, completely intertwine with hers. They were completely connected. She opened her eyes. Rex was looking at her with his beautiful brown expressive eyes.

Ahsoka removed her hand from his forehead and gently ran it down the side of his face. Rex's eyes widened in surprise at her touch, but he didn't object. Ahsoka continued to explore the lines of his face with her hand. She'd never touched him before, except in playful taps or as needed for training. This was something... entirely different.

Rex continued to watch her curiously. When she gently cupped his cheek with her hand, he leaned slightly into her touch. She traced the outline of each of his eyebrows. He closed his eyes. She removed her hand and studied him.

Rex's eyes were staring at her with an intensity she'd never seen in them before. His comlink beeped, startling both of them. Ahsoka and Rex just stared at each other, frozen for the moment, as if they'd both forgotten what the kriff a comlink even was.

The comlink beeped a second time, sounding louder than it had ever sounded before.

"Rex, come in. This is General Skywalker."

The clone captain blinked and startled back to reality.

"Rex, this is General Skywalker, come in. _Rex, are you there_?" Anakin's voice sounded genuinely worried.

The clone captain awkwardly shifted his arm, having to move Ahsoka (still on his chest) before he could get his comm to his lips. "Rex here, General." It was the first time Ahsoka could ever remember hearing Rex sounding less than composed when he answered a comm.

"Rex!" Anakin exclaimed, "are you alright? I was getting worried when you didn't answer the comm. What's your status? Where's Ahsoka?" Rex could hear background sounds of a starfighter's engines being pushed to their absolute limits.

"She's right here, sir," Rex glanced down at Ahsoka still splayed across his chest. He gave her a _look_ , and she sheepishly moved off of him. "Mission complete. Factory is destroyed. We found shelter near the RV site. Standing by."

"Excellent work on the factory, Rex," General Skywalker said, as the sounds of discharged shields and laser fire intensified, "Whoa! Stand by!" There was a crackle of static and a long pause before Skywalker came back on. "Sorry about that. These vulture droids are _persistent_. I'm sorry we can't evac you out immediately. Obi-Wan updated me on your medical-" There was the sound of engines screaming way past the point of design specs. "- situation. Force! There's a lot of them! We'll get to you as soon as we can. In the meantime- Uh oh!" The comm cut out abruptly.

"General?" Rex said questioningly, but Skywalker was gone from the comms.

She exchanged a worried glance with him. No help was coming from that quarter anytime soon.

# # #


	12. Morning in the cave

Rex quickly drifted off to sleep again after the comm call ended, but Ahsoka didn't think she'd be able to rest at all. Her mind was racing with a torrent of emotions.  
She'd always been close to Rex. He was her best friend, and she could talk to him about anything. But, as she'd been pinned against his chest, she felt _different._ She wracked her brain trying to figure out the source of this new and unfamiliar emotion, but couldn't make sense of it. Finally, exhaustion won over and she slipped into an uneasy sleep.

It was near dawn when she awoke. She tried to figure out what had woken her up and realized the sound was Rex trying to get up _without_ waking her up. f it wasn't for the slight pained exhales of breath he was making, she wouldn't have heard him. But, he couldn't get any weight on his leg, and sweat was already breaking out on his brow as he attempted to get up.

"Going somewhere, Rex?"

Rex started at the sound of her voice. "Krek. I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you up."

She sat up, stretching sore muscles protesting overuse from the battle and the strain of carrying Rex. "No, it's all good. I'm up now. What do you need?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. Go back to sleep."

She gave him an exasperated look. "You must need _something_. You were trying to get up."

"No, I mean yes, but-"

She stared at him, not used to Rex being at a loss for words. He was always barking out commands. "What is it?"

He pushed out a long breath and she could see he was frustrated. "I... I have to..." He cursed again, and his face went red with embarrassment.

Ahsoka's brows furrowed together with puzzlement. She never saw Rex lose his composure. He had to _what_?

"Gah," he hissed, trying to explain again. "I..." His eyes briefly met her eyes before he looked away again. He looked miserable.

"Ah!"Ahsoka instantly understood and didn't make him elaborate any further. Gah. Of course.

She sprang lightly to her feet. "OK, then. We'll go out and take care of... this. Not to worry, Rex." She tried to sound as matter-of-fact as possible to spare him any further embarrassment. She leaned down to carefully scoop him up.

"No!" Rex instantly shied away from her, scooting slightly even though the movement caused him to hiss in pain. "Absolutely not, Commander." His voice dropped at least an octave into his deepest command tone. "You will not be carrying me outside for _this_. I will walk."

"Rex, be reasonable."

"It is bad enough you carried me away from the battle site."

"You were unconscious!"

"You will not carry me now."

"You have a shattered leg!" Ahsoka blew out a breath and realized she'd lost her composure. She took several more breaths, striving for Jedi calm. "Rex, it's just you and me here. No one will ever know."

" _I_ will know."

They stared at each other, locked in a battle of wills.

Ahsoka thought back to a bit of Jedi philosophy she'd learned in the Temple.

_No matter how flat you make a panna cake, it's still got two sides._

The point of this bit of wisdom was she was looking at things from her own subjective perspective and failed to see things from Rex's point-of-view.

She nodded. "Alright, I will help you up and you will lean on me the whole way for support. You'll also let me know if it gets to be too much. Will that work?"

"Yes." He quirked his head to the side and studied her as if surprised she'd relented on this one. "Thank you, Commander."

He leaned forward and reached an arm up so Ahsoka could help him rise.

"How's the leg?" Ahsoka asked, deciding it was best to switch to a slightly different topic.

Rex hissed as he rose, but made it to his feet, allowing her to take most of his weight. "Better than it was before, thanks to you. I can't feel as much pain in my knee. It's... uh... actually kind of... numb."

Ahsoka wasn't sure how to react to Rex's news. If he couldn't feel the pain receptors in some parts of his knee, did that mean he now had nerve damage? She tried not to overthink the possibilities, but it was a disturbing thought. Her stomach curled with worry. _  
_

Master Yoda's voice came to her. _Always in motion the future is..._

She pushed away her worries and let it go, for now...

With Rex leaning heavily on Ahsoka, they took slow staggered steps out of the cave. The sun was just rising and TriLuna's moons had faded from sight. Rex and Ahsoka stood at the mouth of the cave for a moment looking out at the planet in the pre-dawn light.

"Not much to look at," said Ahsoka, surveying the trees, rock, bushes and scrub grass that made up TriLuna.

"I don't know. I think the view is alright," Rex jerked his chin toward the factory they'd destroyed the day before.

Ahsoka took a moment to admire the results of their work, staring at the smoke still wisping up into the atmosphere. She couldn't help but feel a hint of sadness, though, knowing how badly injured Rex had gotten as a result of the mission.

"It'll be OK, Commander," Rex said, quietly.

Ahsoka turned, her blue eyes wide and unsure, betraying her vulnerability. She looked down at his leg worriedly. "I don't know, Rex, what happens if..."

She couldn't go on, because her eyes were welling up with tears. She stood there for what seemed like an eternity just letting the tears spill out. She didn't mean to lose control. But, her worry hit her all at once, and the tears wouldn't stop. Rex lightly pulled her in against his armored chest, as much as he could while still holding onto her for support. She wouldn't exactly call it a hug, but it was still comforting. Rex had always been her rock, even if he did not show affection often. She allowed herself just a moment now, getting herself back under control.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him. And, it was then that she noticed his face was flushed red, and his eyes were too bright.

"Rex, what's wrong?" she reached up to feel his skin.

He swatted her hand away, completely at odds with their tender moment seconds before. "Nothing is wrong. I'm fine."

She wondered what was up with him _now_. She let it go. For now. She helped him over to the bushes, and balanced his weight up against a nearby tree. The wind was starting to pick up, rattling through the trees and scrub brush. "Do you need me to help-"

"No!"

"Alright, I'll be over there." She pointed to a nearby rock, and scooted up on the rock, with her back to Rex. It was the best she could to do to give him privacy, and still be nearby if needed.

"Commander," Rex called out a moment later, indicating he was done and needed help getting back to the cave. He was still holding on to a tree for support, and his hands were trembling.

"You, OK?" Ahsoka asked.

"Just tired," Rex said, his voice sounding not quite himself.

Rex was completely silent on the walk back into the cave. His movements began to get slower and he stumbled twice, almost taking Ahsoka down with him.

He stumbled again before he reached his bedroll, almost taking Ahsoka down with him. "Almost there," Ahsoka said, encouraging him on. Ahsoka felt Rex getting weaker and weaker. It reinforced her belief that this trip outside had been a very bad idea, but she decided to save her lecture on his stupidity for later. She tried to lower Rex gently onto his bedroll, but he tried to do it himself. He ended up more crashing down than lying down. Rex let out a pained grunt, as he hit the cave floor.

"Rex!" Ahsoka knelt down next to Rex, panic welling up within her.

"Fek," Rex grumbled and then proceeded to mumbled a few other words under his breath that she couldn't even begin to translate.

"Is it your leg?" Ahsoka asked, kneeling down beside him. He hadn't seemed to hit his leg when he went down.

Rex shook his head. He closed his eyes. "Just need to rest..."

Even in the uneven lighting of the cave, Ahsoka could see that his face was completely pale. "Rex, look at me."

He opened his eyes slowly and met her gaze. She could see that his eyes were bright with fever. He looked away from her, and closed his eyes, his body starting to wrack with shivers. Ahsoka quickly dug through their medpack for the bioscanner to check his temperature. 39C. Force that wasn't good.

She took another deep breath. "It's alright, Rex. We'll get through this, OK?"

He didn't respond.


	13. Fever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex has a fever. Ahsoka improvises to try to cool him down.

Ahsoka sat back on her haunches, and studied Rex, trying to figure out what else she could to bring down Rex's fever. She'd already given him the last two shots of antibiotics from the medpac, but it didn't seem to be helping. She furrowed her brow as she did a quick inventory of the medical supplies. There wasn't much left.

_I'm going to have to improvise._

Her Master was inordinately fond of improvising. She dug through her backpack, looking for something useful amidst the survival supplies.

Ration bars. Flares. Transponder. Canteen.

She set the water aside. Keeping Rex hydrated was useful. She set the ration bars aside, too. Maybe she could get him to eat something, although so far, he hadn't shown any signs of awakening.

_There must be something else here._  
  
She dumped her pack upside down, shaking the last of the contents.

Jedi robe.

She pursed her lips.

_Well, that could be useful..._

Her Master wouldn't be pleased if she destroyed her robe. He was always lecturing her on taking care of her Jedi kit. But, she was apprenticed to the biggest rulebreaker of them all with accepting the consequences for ruining her robe, if it would help Rex. She started tearing into even strips, stacking them into a neat pile, back into her backpack to keep them clean.

They were out of almost everything. She wondered how Master Kenobi and Commander Cody were with the mission to rescue the clones and blow up the factories.

She tried not to let too much of her worry bleed out into the Force, but her anxiety must have bleed through anyway. She felt back a warm rush of calm and assurance from both Master Kenobi _and_ her Master. Of course, it felt totally different from each of them. Master Kenobi's reassurance was soothing, like a breeze on a warm day, and her Master's reassurance came across as a hot rush of anxious feeling wrapped up in an effort to exude calm. But, the effort was definitely there. _That_ was her Master.

She was reassured by this gentle nudge from the two Masters and it gave her a renewed burst of energy. She used the remaining water from her canteen to soak strips torn from her robe. She shook the canteen, judging its' remaining contents. Right. Of course. And, she was running out of water, too. She picked up Rex's canteen. There was a small amount of water left in his canteen, but she wanted to save that for Rex to drink when he woke up.

_I'll have to find a source of water locally to replenish the canteens._

But, getting more water meant leaving Rex unattended. She was not ready to leave. Not yet. She continued to cool him with the small amount of water she had left, trying to make it last as long as possible. Rex muttered restlessly in his sleep. She checked his temperature again using the bioscanner and frowned. His temperature had climbed another degree. She needed to do more to cool him down.

She studied him thoughtfully and then came up with a new approach.

"Alright, Rex, don't take this personally," she muttered, "I'm doing this cool you off."

Ahsoka removed his chest, arm and hand armor, then rolled him slightly to his side, so she could remove the back and ab plates as well. Once all the gription plates were off, she removed the top portion of his undersuit. Ahsoka had helped with enough emergency triage on the battlefield over the past year that she knew all the ins and outs of clone armor. She tried to remain cool and detached as she removed his kit. It was the only logical course of action with his fever spiking. If he remained unconscious for a long period of time, she may have to remove more of his kit. There was no reason she should feel uncomfortable about performing these tasks. But, her common sense and her brain didn't seem to be on speaking terms at the moment.

She sighed and glanced down at his chest. Armor hadn't stopped Rex from getting a good number of scars all over his body. She'd never noticed how many scars he had. She idly traced the lines of the scars on his chest as she cooled him down. So many battles. So many marks. She tried to imagine a different life for Rex, one where he wasn't left with so many scars.

_Why can't I picture it?_ If Rex had a different life, who would watch my back? Who would keep my life out here in the Rim from being endless cycles of dreary tedium? _Come on, Ahsoka, you can't have it both ways. Either Rex has his own life, or he spends his life fighting battles for the Jedi, but never actually free._

She wondered if Rex ever thought about a different life. She'd never thought to ask him.

She sighed and went back to trying to reduce his fever.


	14. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex wakes up from his fever, but he's not out of trouble yet.

Rex woke up slowly and glanced around. It took him a long moment to figure out where he was. Then, it all came back to him, the factory, the commando droids, the lightsaber...

"Rex?" he looked up into the concerned face of his commander. "How are you feeling?" She was speaking to him like he was fragile and might break at any micro-second.

"I'm fine, Commander," he automatically answered, insulted at the question and the insinuation he might need all of this extra attention.

She rolled her eyes at him, obviously not the least bit impressed by his bluster. "Uh-huh. Right. Now, how are you really?"

Rex did a self-assessment. He'd certainly been better. But, not as bad as before he'd passed out. "I'm... eh... fine." He couldn't come up with another word, without implying weakness on his part.

She folded her arms. "I get it. You have two states. 'Fine' and 'Unconscious.' No middle ground with you."

Rex let out a light huff of amusement. His commander did seem to know very well. There was something comforting in the thought.

She held up the canteen. "You should hydrate. There's not a lot of water left, but I saved it all for you."

He shook his head. "No."

"Rex, be reasonable, your fever just broke, you need to hydrate-"

"I'll gladly take water, but not all of it. We will share all of the rations equally."

Ahsoka smiled. "Alright. Now you are sounding more like yourself." She held the canteen out to him.

Rex propped himself up on one elbow and then accepted the canteen. He shook it to carefully gauge the amount of water before taking a sip and then handed it back. "Make sure you hydrate, Commander."

Ahsoka nodded and took a sip. It was peaceful, the two of them, quietly sharing water from the canteen together in the cave. Rex wasn't sure why the most ordinary of tasks always seemed more pleasant when the Commander was around, but she did make his days in the GAR a lot more interesting.

He glanced toward the entrance of the cave and noticed the reddish light coming through. Krek. He'd slept the whole day. Knowing night was coming, and how long nights were on Tri-Luna, he wanted to get some air. "Can we head out of the cave for a short bit? Just get some air?"

She frowned at him. "I don't know, Rex. Our last outing resulted in you collapsing from fever."

"I think I would've gotten the fever regardless." Knowing this was probably an unfair blow, he decided to pull out all the stops. "I think a bit of air might speed my healing."

She huffed lightly with amusement. "Oh, really now? Alright, fine, but if you start to feel ill again, let me know. No overdoing it again to the point of collapse. I want to return to you to Anakin in one piece." Her tone was light-hearted, but the joke fell a bit flat.

"Might be a bit too late for that," Rex said, nodding his chin down toward his injured leg.

Ahsoka's face fell and Rex immediately regretted his words. He forgot sometimes she wasn't much older than him. "You're doing great, Commander. Taking charge of everything. The General will be proud."

Her face brightened immediately and Rex resolved to do a better job of keeping his doubts to himself.

"You'll probably want to put these back on if you're going outside," she tossed him his bodysuit bottom. Wait. What the frak?

He lifted the blanket covering him and then realized he was not wearing anything underneath. "Commander, explain this." He was sure he was wearing his blacks when he passed out.

"You were running a fever. It was the only way to cool you down. Nothing else was working. I'll help you get dressed." She reached for the blanket to tug it off his bare form.

"You will _not_ ," Rex said firmly, gripping on to the blanket with a death-like grip.

He stared at the commander, then made a hand gesture to mean that she was to turn around while he was getting dressed. He was able to get the suit over his uninjured leg, but could not maneuver around his broken, damaged leg. He cursed as he tried to move.

"I heard that Rex," Ahsoka said, without turning around, "are you so stubborn that you'd rather injure yourself than accept help?"

_Yes_ , Rex said to himself, then thought of all the times he'd lectured his shinies about being total di'kuts and not relying upon each other when they needed help. He blew out a long breath. He always told them that such stupidity would get them killed.

"No," he finally relented, "I... could use your assistance, Commander." Each word felt like a leaden weight. Fek. In a way, having to accept help like this was a lot harder than getting shot. With the help of the commander, he was able to get dressed again.

He tried not to notice how her touch on his skin made him feel. His skin seemed felt odd whenever she touched him. Maybe it was nerve damage. Or the fever. He opted not to put on his bodysuit top. Normally, he would always be properly attired around the commander, but already he felt hot. Too hot. He could feel his fever was coming back. Sitting outside for a few minutes in the evening air would feel good. Maybe it would cool him down.

He was tired of sitting around this cave. He was getting restless. It was bothering him more than he was willing to admit that he hadn't been able to go help General Kenobi and Cody. Maybe if he could go just go sit and watch the smoldering factory for a bit. Take his mind off his shattered leg for a bit.

The commander put an arm around his waist, and he was surprised once again how strong she was. They slowly started to make their way toward the cave entrance. She was taking most of his weight. They were almost there and he could actually see the red of the sunset. He could just start to see the smoldering factory and then his good leg decided to give out on him.

_Shab._

"What is it?" the commander stopped, immediately concerned.

"Just give me a moment," Rex said, not willing to admit defeat, determined to make it outside. He put a hand up to his head, fighting for balance. _Shab. Shab. Shab. Come on trooper, stay on your feet._

Everything started to spin and he felt himself wavering on his feet. He took several deep gasping breaths, fighting back nausea.

"Come on, Rex, we're going back." Ahsoka gently maneuvered him back toward his bedroll. He didn't protest and let the commander guide him along. As soon as Rex was back down onto his bedroll, he immediately rolled over onto his side and curled his body up. He squeezed his eyes shut, and took deep breaths, fighting his roiling stomach.

"Rex?" the commander asked.

"Krek... dizzy..." he tried to verbalize what was going on, but barely finished his sentence before he began to gag. The commander grabbed a small piece of metallic camping cookware that she'd left next to his bedroll for just such a purpose. He felt the commander lift him up. Gah. She was strong. He couldn't even move at the moment. She pivoted him so that he could use the container she'd placed next to his head. There wasn't much in his stomach except for water, but Rex had long ago learned that even that _hurt_ when propelled up with enough force. When his body was done torturing him with vertigo and nausea, he lay there, miserable and spent, still curled up on his side. The commander gently pushed him onto his back again. He didn't have the strength to protest. She started wiping down his face with a clean cloth. He covered up his eyes with one arm.

"You shouldn't have to see me like this, Commander," Rex grumbled.

"Like what?" Ahsoka challenged.

Rex's laugh was bitter. He moved his arm to peer at her with one eye, "I'm not exactly at my best right now."

The commander pulled his arm away so she could look him fully in the eyes.

"Rex, do you walk out on me when I get hurt?"

He shook his head, offended she would even suggest such a thing.

"Exactly. You've saved me more times than I can count. You've never let me behind because I'm too much trouble."

"You _are_ a lot of trouble sometimes," Rex mumbled, his voice tired. He wanted to smile and reassure her, saying something clever and teasing like Fives would say, but he couldn't form a coherent thought any longer. And, then he couldn't stay conscious any longer. His eyes slid shut and the fever took him.

# # #


	15. Teth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex has a fever-induced dream and it brings back memories of an encounter with Ventress.

Ahsoka chewed her lip worriedly, feeling Rex's brow again. His fever had spiked higher. Sweat was beaded in his brow, and he thrashed restlessly back and forth on his bedroll. She carefully undid all of the bandages on his injured leg. She bit her lip, and parroted a favorite expression of Rex's: "This is not good."

His leg was puffy and swollen with angry red streaks creeping up his legs from the wound site. She sprayed the whole area with bacta spray, noticing with alarm how little was left in the medpac, and re-wrapped his leg again. He needed so much more than a temporary field dressing.

"No... no..." Rex muttered, thrashing restlessly against his bedroll. Waves of deep emotional distress rolled off of him. She was torn between wanting to soothe him with the Force and not wanting to invade his privacy. Rex was a private person, and she knew he wouldn't take kindly to her reaching into his mind without permission. While it pained her to sit back and not interfere, she let him sleep. What was he dreaming about that caused him such pain?

# # #

Rex was dreaming of Teth. All of Torrent Squadron was creeping up the side of the monastery. Some were in AT-TE walkers, but most were pulling themselves up using their DC-15 cable launchers. And, a seemingly endless supply of droids was doing an excellent job of cutting down Torrent Squadron.

"Hurry up, Rex!" General Skywalker zipped by on a stolen droid hovercycle. His voice was exuberant, as it often was, when he fought. Normally Rex appreciated his General's enthusiasm, but today it was hitting a raw nerve. How could Skywalker be so cheerful when Torrent was getting shot off their cables, and plunging to their deaths, in ever-increasing numbers? Their losses were staggering. The closer Rex and his men got to the top of the monastery, the larger a target they presented to the droids shooting down at them from above. At this rate, there would not be any troopers left by the time they scaled to the top.

The stat counter on the right side kept ticking up, marking clones KIA. Rex tried not to look at the total KIAs so far that day, but he couldn't stop himself from looking. He cringed inwardly when he saw the number. It was even worse than he'd anticipated. Much worse.

_Can Skywalker not see how many men we are losing? I know how many because each of these men is one of my brothers. Falling means dying... I hear them... I hear all of them... And, he wants me to hurry the fek up?_

But, that's not what he said, of course.

Ever the dutiful clone captain, he took a deep, steadying breath and responded: "Yes, sir. Working on it." He then muttered what he was really thinking under his breath to vent some steam. He shook his head and focused on climbing, even though his arms were burning from the strain.

Jet packs. Fek and all. Why hadn't they been issued jetpacks for this mission?

There was an entire squadron of battle droids just shooting down upon them point-blank. They were totally vulnerable, and completely exposed. The stonewall seemed absolutely endless as they continued to clamber up hand-over-hand. Skywalker continued to zip about on his hovercycle. Again. Why did not they have karkin' jetpacks?

Rex watched in horror as one of the AT-TE walkers faltered, and then reared up, like a dying beast. It succumbed to fire from above and fell backward off the wall. Even above the din of battle, Rex could hear the screams of the men inside. He could also hear them through helmet comms. The screams were immediately silenced when the AT-TE slammed roof first with a metallic crunch into the ground far below. He almost preferred the screaming to the sudden silence. His KIA counter immediately jumped by 20. He knew all the brothers who'd been assigned to that AT-TE.

Krek. He knew every brother climbing this wall. None of them were numbers to him.

Rex turned his attention back above, and narrowly missed getting his head taken off by a blast from a droid. He narrowed his eyes, took aim, and watched with satisfaction as the droid went tumbling off the top and fell to the ground below. Rex looked up to the skies above, scanning for friendlies.

_Where is the air support? It's insane to try to take a fortified position like this without air support!_

Rex blinked to change the view in his HUD. But, he didn't need the tactical display to tell him that his squadron was getting cut to pieces. All around him members of the 501st continued to fall. He heard a cry of startled dismay as Aleto, whom Rex had known since his days on Kamino, took a full blast of fire in the chest. Aleto arced up and spun slowly on his grappling hook. His arms flailed wildly, as his body struggled to get air. He'd probably taken a full hit to the lungs. He was dying, and Rex couldn't do anything to help him. He couldn't call for a medic. He couldn't call to have Aleto extracted. He could only watch him spin around on his cable and slowly suffocate. His arms stopped flailing, and Rex's counter ticked up another notch.

He took a deep breath and continued to climb and fire. He had a mission to finish. He would have to grieve for all of his brothers later. He would say remembrances for all of them.

He heard Skywalker call to his Padawan, as he gracefully force leapt his way up the side of the monastery. His moves defied gravity and the laws of physics in that bizarre way that only Jedi could.

_Weird, unnatural creatures, Jedi,_ Rex thought, shaking his head, as he continually tracked the movements of the Jedi, his men, and the droids shooting at him from above.

"Gotta' keep up!" Skywalker shouted to his Padawan.

_OK, now that was taking it a step too far. Had Skywalker really just challenged his Padawan to a race to the top of the wall, treating this like a game?  
_

Tick. Tick. Tick. His KIA counter was climbing so steadily now it was matching his hammering heartbeat. Rex's men were dying at a rate he hadn't seen since Christophsis.

_Skywalker is just eccentric. Let it go._

"Watch your left flank!" he bellowed to a group of troopers. "Heads up!" he yelled a warning to his troopers, spotting a damaged SBD careening over the side of the wall and crashing toward the troopers. Several troopers pitched themselves to the side on their suspension cables, just managing to clear themselves out of the way before the Battle Droid thundered past. Rex heard a sickening crunch and a cry of agonized pain. One trooper did not react fast enough. He heard the sound of a cable snapping, followed a moment later by the distinctive thwack of armor hitting the ground far below. Rex bowed his head for just a brief moment, bracing himself against the inevitable sound he knew was coming next.

Tick. Another KIA registered on his HUD. Rex tried to stop himself from checking the readout to see who it was, but his eyes traitorously glanced over anyway. He couldn't seem to help himself. It was Mich. One of the shinies who'd joined up with the 501st after Christophsis. The shinie who insisted on growing his hair just beyond regulation length and singing bawdy songs with questionable lyrics in the showers. He was also an incredible marksman.

Krek. He'd been a promising trooper.

Rex kept climbing. His arms burned, his legs burned, his back burned, and he was breathing so hard it was difficult now to get oxygen into his lungs. Rex kept climbing like a man possessed. He lost track of time and had no idea how he kept missing the hails of blaster fire that showered all around him. Somehow he just seemed to be able to dodge the fire, climb and shoot. His reaction time had always been just a little bit superior to his brothers, and he'd never really known why. He just continued on.

As he watched his brothers die, one after another after another, he was prepared to be struck down at any moment. He'd lost the fear of dying the first time he'd held a brother in his arms, and felt his life slip away. That seemed like a lifetime ago. With the way he was rapidly aging, it _was_ a lifetime ago.

Rex was completely resigned to his fate- _this_ would always be his life. And, his life would end in a hail of blaster fire on a battlefield like this one. He simply plowed on, getting on with it. Part of him just didn't care anymore. As he watched his men get struck, part of him welcomed the same fate. I'm losing all my men.

Again.

What good am I as a Captain if my men keep getting killed?

_Go on, tinnies. Do it. I'm tired. I can't do this anymore. I'm done._

Is that what his men were thinking, too? Was that why his KIA ratio was so high? Had his men all just given up?

He paused for a moment, and put his head down on his arms, trying to catch his breath and compose himself.

He felt, more than heard, Ahsoka coming up near him and saw the padawan leap on top of an AT-TE walker. The first AT-TE had succumbed to blaster fire coming down from the top. Ahsoka stood, balanced on the front of the walker, defiantly deflecting away all the fire directed at the walker. She was determined that the second walker was not going to meet the same fate as the first.

_Rex realized in that moment how much Padawan Tano - Ahsoka - had changed._ When Rex had first met her on Christophsis, she was all cocky arrogance- determined to prove herself to Skywalker.

But, she's definitely different, Rex realized, as he saw her valiantly defending the AT-TE. _The little'un is growing up. She gets it now._ At that moment, Rex felt fiercely proud of the little Jedi. Somehow, in the midst of all the death and discomfort, he found thoughts of Ahsoka to be both comforting and inspiring. With a renewed sense of determination, he focused his attention on the droids above and kept climbing.

He ignored the burning pain in his tired limbs and continued dodge hails of blasterfire.

He shouted encouragements to his men, buoying them up to the top with him. "Come on, Aren! You're almost at the top! Move it, move it, trooper! You can do it! Tico! Watch that right flank!"

If the Commander, could fight so valiantly for them, they could make it to the top of this farkin' wall.

Without warning, Rex's dream abruptly shifted. Ventress had an iron grip on his throat. He was slowly, and painfully, suffocating to death. Despite the pain, Rex glared at her, focusing his thoughts at her.

_Go on. Kill me. You've killed all my men. Be done with it. You venomous chakaar. You have no real power over me._

His vision was blacking out. He heard himself making strange gasping noises and choking noises.

While he would be sorry to leave his men without a Captain, it was not such a bad thing to die in battle. And, he knew there were many brothers waiting for him on the other side. He relaxed in her grip, not fighting against her chokehold.

Ventress immediately released him. But, before he could catch his breath, cold tendrils invaded his mind.

"You will contact Skywalker now."

He heard Ventress' voice but also felt the sound echoing inside his brain. _You - you - will - will - contact - contact - Skywalker - Skywalker - now! now!_

Of all the Jedi abilities he'd heard about, mind control was the one he'd discussed the most with Cody, Echo and Fives. They all agreed it was the most insidious of the Jedi's many unnatural abilities. His hand automatically reached for his comlink.

Rex suddenly realized he could resist by _not_ resisting. He was aware she was influencing his actions, so he could control her influence.

Ventress' gaze into his own. She was expecting a quick response.

"I will contact Skywalker now," Rex parroted back.

He contacted Skywalker but twisted the words around enough to warn the General. In his mind, he continued to push against her presence, shielding himself from the icy tendrils.

The more he pushed against the tendrils, the more it seemed to change something in him. Like something hidden and powerful coming to life.

Could Ventress sense it? No, she is absolutely obsessed with finding Skywalker.

Ventress' mind attack has unleashed something new in his brain. No. New isn't the correct terminology. More like something dormant. And, whatever it is, it is karkin' terrifying. It's too much. He feels this new something in his brain is so overpowering that it is in danger of consuming the rest of him - wiping out the person that is uniquely Rex.

He's so distracted by what's going on in his head, he doesn't notice Ventress' dismissal of him. She's gotten what she wants so she tosses him aside with a wave of her hand. He slams into the stone wall of the monastery. His ribs crack with a splintering pain followed by his head thunking into the wall.

He awoke sometime later to one of his men softly calling to him asking if he was dead. No, not dead, and other than a splitting headache, his brain seemed to be back to normal again. He could just pretend that didn't happen.

After they returned from Teth, all _five_ of them that survived, Rex started having nightmares. In the nightmares, what happened with Ventress didn't stop. She would keep clawing relentlessly into his mind time and time again, the icy cold tendrils forcing changes in his brain, morphing him into something twisted and horrible until there is nothing left of the person that was once Rex.

Cody tried to get him to talk one time about Teth and even went so far as to ask about the attack by Ventress.

"What did she do to you?" Cody asked, not unkindly.

"I don't know," Rex confessed. In a low voice, Rex finally told Cody the whole story, starting with when they barricaded themselves inside the monastery. He described being force-choked by Ventress, and her attempts to use mind control on him.

"Mind control?" he stared at Rex, wide-eyed.

Rex quickly shook his head. "It didn't work. I... I didn't tell her anything."

He couldn't fully describe the experience to Cody, because he didn't understand it himself. So, he left out the part that terrified him the most- the feeling that he was now somehow different than all of the other clones on some fundamental level. The feeling that something had happened to his brain on Teth, and it could never be undone again.

# # #

Ahsoka felt the top of Rex's forehead with the back of her hand. His forehead felt burning hot against her fingers. She'd removed the top portion of his undersuit again and was wiping his face and chest to cool him. Her efforts were keeping the fever from climbing any higher, but it was not coming down.

Rex's eyes snapped open. He looked up at her, but Ahsoka couldn't tell if he was really actually seeing her.

"Rex?" Ahsoka said gently, placing one hand on the side of his face.

Rex startled and recoiled. "Don't touch me!"

Ahsoka pulled back, shocked. But, her Jedi training quickly took over.

"Shhhhh, it's OK, Rex," she said, sending feelings of peace, calm, and tranquility toward him.

But, it had the opposite effect on Rex. She felt him grow even more agitated. He put both hands up to his head as if warding off an attack.

"Mind control! Stop!" Rex said, angrily, looking up at her with angry, bloodshot eyes.

"No, Rex, I was just trying to-"

" _Control me_! Like Ventress!" His eyes were completely wild and blazing with fever. Ahsoka had never seen him like this. It was like looking into the eyes of a complete stranger, rather than the man she regarded as her closest friend. He propped himself up on an elbow and stared at her. His voice was an angry hiss: "All you Jedi, and that Sith witch, you have unnatural abilities. You go around..." he gestured wildly with one hand, "...manipulating people. It's _unnatura_ l." His voice hissed on the word like Jedi were some aberrations of nature going wrong. He pointed an accusing finger at her again. "I lost so many men." He shook his head. "You Jedi don't belong in this war. You don't know what you're doing and because of you clones are dying by the thousands." Rex's arm began wavering unsteadily as he lost strength. "We don't need the enemy to wipe us out with the _Jedi_ leading us. We won't survive this war for your lack of experience. All of you!" His head rolled back and he collapsed again, his eyes sliding back in his head as he slumped unconscious once more.  
  
Ahsoka was left to stare at him in open-mouthed shock, frozen in place.  
  
# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original draft of this chapter, written in 2010, was inspired by an article I read about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) suffered by veterans of both the Iraq and Afghanistan war/conflicts. The campaign at Teth is one of the first battles we see, (because it appears in the Clone Wars movie.) What always strikes me about this ascent to the B'omarr Monastery is how many clones are lost and how senseless it is. Why not use jetpacks? Who not call in the 212th Attack Battalion for air support sooner? (The 212th is called in at the tail end of the battle.) Why scale the wall in the first place? Why not just drop the troopers in from above? 
> 
> The strategies don't make sense, but a lot of the strategies used by the Jedi in the early days of the war made no sense. During the first assault on Geonosis, the clones were ordered to do an unprotected frontal assault across an open plain. This is a very poor strategy (obviously) and resulted in huge numbers of casualties. As the war went on, the Jedi got better at being military leaders, but the clones were the ones who suffered the most in those early days.


	16. Ventress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka enters Rex's mind and is shocked by what she sees.

After making sure Rex was sleeping once again, and she'd done all she could for him, Ahsoka had to walk out of the cave. She needed a few minutes away from Rex. She sat outside their shelter and wrapped her arms around her knees and stared in the cool night, lost in thought.

_He's burning up with fever. I shouldn't take anything he says to heart._

She stared up at the three moons and the stars beyond as Rex's words rang through her head again and again.

_"Stop- trying- to- control me! Like Ventress!"_

_How could Rex possibly compare me to Ventress?_

Ahsoka looked out at the ugly scrub brushes and rock of TriLuna.

His words ringing through her head time and again.

_"Don't touch me!"_

This stung, as well, as she was trying her best to take care of him. She wasn't a medic and she did not have talents in the healing arts, like Barriss. But, Force, she was trying.

_What was taking Commander Cody and Master Kenobi so long to complete their mission?_

_"You Jedi don't belong in this war!"_

Rex's last comments stung most of all. In the beginning, she knew he regarded her as just a child. He'd called her as much on numerous occasions, alternative between "kid" and "little 'un." It took a long time before he starting calling her commander, and even longer before he sounded like he meant the title with respect. But, had she imagined all of that?

She'd made her share of mistakes as a young commander. She would be the first to admit it. She had to learn on the job, and unfortunately, her job was commanding troops. There was a terrible cost to pay when she made a mistake.

But, did Rex truly wish she wasn't around?

_Did all the clones feel the same way?_

_Behind their polite facade and crisp Kaminoan manners, do they regard us incompetent?_

The longer she sat out there, the darker her thoughts became. Normally she talked with her Master or Rex when she was confused. Left now completely on her own, the emotions were overwhelming.

_None of the clones like me. It's all just a facade._

She pushed out a long, miserable sigh, refusing to give in to the tears brimming just behind her eyes.

They needed to get out of here. Rex needed to be back in the medical bay on the _Resolute_. Back with his own kind. Away from her.

She closed her eyes, resting for a few minutes, and taking deep even breaths.

But, it was not in her nature to feel sorry for herself for long. Her inside voice soon chastised her, giving her a harsh reality check. She had to get back inside to Rex. She had a duty to do. Whether Rex wanted her around or not, she was all he had until help arrived.

Ahsoka went back in the cave. Rex's face was flushed, and his brow fevered. She placed her hand on his brow.

"Rex?" she said gently.

No response.

"Rex?"

His head lolled restlessly from side-to-side. She checked his temperature again with the bioscanner. 39.5. It had crept up while she was outside feeling sorry for herself.

"I'm sorry, Rex," she muttered, not sure if she was sorry for stepping away, or sorry for everything in general. The war. The loss of his brothers. Just everything.

"No, no..." Rex muttered, his head moving back and forth restlessly. He was still out from the fever.

"Yes, well, you're stuck with me, Rex." _For now_. She had no idea what would become of them once they returned to the ship.

As she began cooling down his chest and shoulders, she heard him murmur: "Ventress..."

_Ventress?_ _You're dreaming of Ventress?_ _It better not be an erotic dream._

Rex's hand twitched as if he was reaching for his blaster.

_Ah..._

For reasons she didn't want to delve too deeply into at the moment, she was immensely relieved the context of his dream was battle-related. But, she quickly double-checked all of his weapons were out of his reach.

Her comlink beeped. She quickly rose and went outside to answer it.

"Ahsoka, this is Obi-Wan. How are you two doing?"

"I'm alright, Master, Rex isn't doing well. He's running a fever and we're short on medical supplies. I don't know what else to do for him. Are you on your way?"

"We won't be able to rendezvous with you for several more hours at the earliest. I just spoke with Anakin. He's still completely tied up on his end with the air battle. The Separatists have called in reinforcements. Just hold on for another 1/4 rotation, and then we'll get you both out of there." Master's Kenobi's voice was calm and reassuring, as usual.

"I... understand, Master," she tried to draw strength from hearing the familiar Jedi's voice, "but, Rex's fever worries me."

"Have you tried doing Force healing?" the elder Jedi asked.

"No, Master. I'm not particularly skilled in the healing arts."

"Trust in yourself, Ahsoka, and trust in the Living Force. The Force will be your guide. We'll be in touch again when we have an update on our ETA. Good luck."

Why did everything sound so easy when Master Kenobi said it?

"Alright, Master, I..." she stopped herself from saying _I'll try_. Master Yoda was always getting after them about using that expression. "Thank you, Master. Ahsoka out."

Ahsoka walked slowly back into the cave, thinking about Master Kenobi's suggestion.

Force healing.

She stared down at Rex, where he was sleeping fitfully on his bedroll. Master Kenobi made it sound so easy.

_This would be a lot easier if I knew he wasn't so opposed to Jedi and Force techniques._ Ahsoka knelt by Rex's side, making herself comfortable. _Master Plo Koon once said to me said Force Healing comes from deep within - the inner self._

She didn't understand the comment at the time and hadn't asked him to elaborate. She never thought she'd need to use it. There were always medics around.

_'Use the Living Force' and 'let the Force be your guide.' 'Force Healing comes from deep within.' What exactly does all of that mean?_

It was oddly non-specific advice.

Ahsoka had done Force healing before, although she didn't consider herself particularly adept at it. Only those who wished to become Jedi Healers spent a great deal of time perfecting the skill. As she prepared to lay her hands on his head, she thought of the strong reaction she'd evoked by touching him earlier.

_Rex, I'm trying to help you here, so don't break my wrists, or anything, OK?_

She placed her hands on either side of his temples. His skin was very hot to touch against her cooler Togrutan skin.

_I hope this works._

She began to slowly enter his mind, glad that he was deeply unconscious and not cognizant enough to bar her way. His brain was hyper-aware of the injury, sending extra white and red blood cells to the damaged areas. As Ahsoka fell deeper into her meditative trance, she traveled through his body, following blood vessel after blood vessel. Finally, she arrived at the site of the injury.

The area was overfull with white blood cells, swarming around an obviously broken femur, an oddly crumbly knee cap, and other strange bits that struck Ahsoka as being non-organic in nature. Ahsoka moved in closer to one of the foreign, non-organic bits. The white blood cells were swarming these pieces as well, in a frenzy, trying to expel them from the body.

_Sith spit, more pieces of armor!_

These bits were much smaller than the chunk she still carried in her pocket, but there were a great number of them. Rex's armor hadn't just broken from the initial shot, it had shattered inside his knee, just like his knee cap.

_This new 'clone shredder' ammo is brutal, designed to cripple and maim our army in the most painful manner possible._

Ahsoka studied the pieces still floating around in his knee, mixed in with free-floating bits of fragmented cartilage _._

_The damage was too much._

_I can't possibly help. There's so much damage here._

_Rex needs surgery, and soon, or he'll..._

She mentally berated herself. Or, _what? There's no one else, you have to help him._

She focused her healing powers on Rex's shattered knee, concentrating on reducing the infection- buying Rex more time before it turned into sepsis- fatal blood poisoning. As she worked, she could feel his fever slowly coming down. Ever so slowly, and it was exhausting work. She began to tire, but she wouldn't stop. She couldn't. She was all the hope Rex had right now. She then focused on taking some of her strength and giving it to Rex to bolster him up. As she grew more tired, she felt herself losing her focus, drifting away from his knee and back up into his mind. She tried to stay focused, but she was just so weary.

As she was drawn back into his mind, she found herself in the grips of his dream. She found herself -

\- on Teth.

She was once again scaling the vertical wall, but everything looked different. Instead of leaping easily from vine to vine, she was climbing very slowly, holding on to a cable. Everything was taking so much longer and seemed so much more difficult.

As she turned her head to the left, she saw someone she knew get killed by a spray of fire. She felt a deep sense of sorrow, even though she couldn't actually remember who that person was - only that she knew him. Her HUD display registered the death and steadily ticked upwards. She felt a profound sense of sadness, and a feeling like she'd failed somehow.

My HUD?

It took her several moments to make sense of it and realize she was now reliving the scaling of the Bo'omar monastery on Teth through Rex's eyes. By the time the difficult ascent was over, over half of the 501st Battalion was gone. Now that she 'knew' every one of them, she felt horrifyingly sick inside at the terrible loss of clone lives.

She was consumed with her mission to rescue the baby Huttlet the first time around, she hadn't thought to ask Rex what the battle had been like for him. She knew their losses had been heavy, but their mission had been a success. The deal had been made with the Hutts for Republic Forces to pass through their space and the Council was very pleased. But, she'd never spoken to Rex about any of it.

Why hadn't she felt that way the first time? The dream shifted, and suddenly she found herself slumped on the cold floor inside the monastery. Around her were more slain bodies of the 501st.

Ahsoka felt her hand grip the blaster as she tried to kill Ventress, and failed. She felt herself getting lifted up by Ventress, the life getting slowly choked out of her. Then, she felt icy tendrils crawling through her brain.

_"Where is Skywalker?_ " Ventress was right in her face.

This is why Rex keeps saying Ventress' name. He was directly attacked by Ventress. I never knew.

She was amazed to feel the resistance Rex was putting up to Ventress' forced mind invasion. The more Ventress pushed, the more Rex's mind shielded him from Ventress' attack. His mind did it naturally, instinctively. He'd instinctively raised a Force shield! Rex parroted Ventress' words, warning Skywalker of her presence, even as the use of the Force shield starting awakening other areas in his brain. Other untapped, unused areas suddenly all flipped on at once. The effect was overwhelming. Ahsoka could feel Rex's panic as foreign sensations overwhelmed his brain, hitting him all at once. She felt his internal scream. He was too weak to actually cry out in his sleep. It was actually a great relief to be slammed into a wall by Ventress and knocked unconscious.

Ahsoka collapsed, asleep, completely spent, on Rex's chest.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she was woken up again by Rex's voice.

"Commander?" Rex asked, staring down at her in confusion. "What... what's going on?"

Ahsoka lifted her head, and looked around. She lifted her head and hands off of Rex's bare chest and studied him carefully. His eyes were clear and focused directly on her. He was lucid again.

Rex was back.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is everything alright, Commander?" Rex asked, starting to look concerned.

"You had a high fever," Ahsoka started out.

"Again?" Rex asked.

Ahsoka continued to look at him.

Rex studied her carefully, "What is it, Commander?" He immediately grew suspicious, "Did I say something when I had the fever?"

Ahsoka stayed completely silent, not sure how to answer that. Now, Rex looked very concerned, "Commander, what did I say?"

"It was nothing," Ahsoka said, looking away, "just random mumbling. Nothing important. How are you feeling?" Ahsoka asked, changing the subject. She scooted off his chest and felt his forehead. His fever was still down, but she knew it was only a temporary fix.

"Better," Rex said, pushing up slightly so he could lean on one elbow. "I take it I have you to thank for that?"

Ahsoka smiled and shrugged.

"What did you do?" Rex asked.

"Just tried Master Kenobi recommended. Hey, are you hungry?" she asked, quickly trying to change topics.

She offered Rex a rations bar, but he turned it down.

"Commander," he said in his no-nonsense command tone, "what is it you're not telling me?"

She shook her head, not making eye contact.

"Commander."

"Honestly, Rex, it's nothing important."

"Commander," Rex pushed himself slowly and painfully to a sitting position. He moved his leg very carefully, but still hissed in pain from the slight movement.

Ahsoka fetched him another painkiller out of the pack. Rex didn't object when she injected him in the neck with it.

"Your leg is a mess," Ahsoka said, as she administered the shot, "try not to move it."

"It feels like it," Rex agreed with a grimace, "but, you are changing the subject. Out with it, what is it that you don't want to tell me?"

"Alright," Ahsoka took a deep breath, and tossed the empty injector into an empty side pocket of her backpack. She sat very close to Rex, facing him directly, "I did Force healing on you."

"You did what?" Rex exclaimed, in a surprised, cautious tone.

"Force healing. Your fever was spiking very high, and I didn't know what else to do. Master Kenobi suggested it actually. I used the Force to enter your mind and heal parts of your body. I discovered you still have some armor bits inside your knee and that's what is causing your fever. I was able to buy you a little bit of time, fighting the infection, bringing the fever done, working to prevent sepsis."

Rex regarded her at first with suspicion, and then with amazement. He did have a dim recollection of being very out of his head with fever.

"Well, I can't say I relish the idea of having you inside my head, but, you probably saved my life. Again." He gave her a small smile.

She immediately returned it, so grateful he was acting like _Rex_ again.

"However," Rex said, "I need to know, while you were inside my head, what else did you see? How deep do these connections go while doing these healings? Can you see _everything_ in my head?"

_Oh, I should have known he wasn't going to just drop it._

"No, Rex," Ahsoka said, "it's not at all like that."

"What is it like, then?" His brown eyes gazed intently into hers.

_Oh, I hate it when he does that. I can never resist that look._

"You were dreaming Rex, and I stumbled into your dream on my way out. I didn't mean to. I was very tired from doing the healing and just ended up in there. It was not my intent at all-"

"What did you see?" asked Rex, in his warning tone.

"Teth," Ahsoka whispered, tears in her eyes, "I saw Teth." She reached out and gripped one of his hands. "I had no idea, Rex. You never told me."

He pushed out a long breath, cursed under his breath, and looked away. He shook his head. "You never asked, Commander."

Ahsoka grabbed his hand between both of hers. "Oh, Rex, I never knew it was like that. I mean, I knew we took heavy losses, but I never actually KNEW them. And then when I saw it again from your eyes, I knew them, I knew all of them. It was horrible! I watched them die, one after another, and I knew who they all were! I mean, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to watch that many Jedi be killed like that-"

"Would it have mattered more if they were Jedi?" Rex asked in a warning tone.

"Rex, no, that's not what I meant..."

Rex hissed with frustration and put up a hand to forestall their conversation. She could feel turmoil roiling off of him and bleeding into the force. She wasn't sure how much of it was directed at her, and how much of it was from all the emotional pain he carried around with him. She'd had no idea.   
  
He ran one hand across the back of his short-cropped hair, a movement she noticed he only did when he was agitated. She stayed silent, giving him the space he needed to get his emotions under control.  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revised the ending of the chapter to make Rex's response to Ahsoka's accidental intrusion more in keeping with his character. He's upset, as this is a deeply personal issue for him, but even when his physical and emotional barriers are down, he desperately tries to keep his temper in check. Many thanks to RustyThebanite for providing feedback on this chapter and his thoughts on Rex's response to Ahsoka.


	17. What happens in the cave (stays in the cave)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There are certain things that will never be discussed." - Captain Rex

The awkward silence in the cave was oppressive.

Ahsoka was torn between wanting to apologize and still feeling like she stepped into a fragile nest of nuna eggs. It used to be so easy to talk to Rex about anything and everything. Where had she suddenly gone so wrong?

Rex was studying with wide brown eyes. It was the expression he always wore when he was upset about something. Before she could speak, he could again. His voice was hoarse and raspy from fever and illness. "Commander." Even as ill as he was, there was no denying the commanding presence in his tone.

Ahsoka lifted up an eyebrow and let him speak. She was worried if she spoke, everything would just come out wrong.

The clone captain blew out a long raspy breath. "I'm..." he hesitated, which was completely out of character for him, and then finally said, "I'm sorry."

She stared at him wide-eyed, not sure she'd heard him correctly. "You're what?"

He scowled darkly. "Ahsoka, don't make me repeat it."

The use of her first name caught her off-guard. She was always asking him to call her Ahsoka, but Rex was insistent on protocol. His look at that moment was so fierce, and so like her _Rex_ , that she wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. "Yes, I did hear you." Hope started to blossom in her that things might be okay between them again. "I'm just not sure I understand. Explain it to me."

Rex reached a hand up and rubbed wearily at his face, "I shouldn't have gotten angry at you. You were trying to help." With great effort he pushed himself. She was tempted to help him but decided to leave him his dignity and allow him to do this on his own. He looked down at his injured leg, studying it for a long moment before looking up at her. "You've been trying to save me under difficult circumstances. " He shook his head. "I don't remember all of what I said, but I know it was unfair. You're not responsible for this war. You're caught up in this as much as I am."

Ahsoka looked at him, surprised. Just when she thought she knew Rex, he would pull something like this and surprise her all over again. She was stunned speechless for a moment. "Ah... apology accepted." She could see his arm trembling from the effort to remain upright. She reached over and gently eased him back to a fully reclining position again. It placed her almost fully on top of him as she leaned over him to do so, and they were almost face-to-face.

He was gazing up at her curiously.

On instinct, she reached down and started massaging his temples. He leaned into her touch, and moaned from the pleasure of it, relaxing into the soothing motion. She felt his body go almost completely slack under her touch and she wondered if he was asleep.

"Rex?" she whispered.

His eyes opened a fraction. "Hmmmm?" his voice sounded lazy and drowsy. He didn't seem aware of the position they were in, or if he did, he wasn't alarmed by it.

She leaned over him and lightly brushed her lips against him. Part of Ahsoka was whispering that this was _not_ a good idea. But, another part of her couldn't help her curiosity. It was natural to be curious about such things at her age, wasn't it? She leaned down and brushed her lips over Rex a second time.

At first, he didn't respond. He seemed more shocked than anything else. But, then, some sort of instinct must have kicked in, because Rex reached a hand behind her montrals and pulled her down closer to him again. He leaned up to kiss her. She pressed her lips down on his more firmly and threw herself into the business of kissing him back.

She heard a low moan and immediately pulled back, concerned she'd injured Rex. Then, she realized the moan had come from her.

Her moan seemed to have shocked Rex into his senses. He pulled forcibly back and gently pushed Ahsoka off of him.

"No, commander," he gasped, "we _cannot_ do this." He stared at her with eyes a deeper, darker shade than she'd ever seen them before. Her body tingled _everywhere_. As she'd been tugged off of his body, she felt _something_ on his lower half that hadn't been there before. She knew enough about male anatomy to know it meant that Rex desired her. She was not so sheltered and naive to not recognize the signs. His voice sounded strangled, and he was definitely struggling to get his breathing under control.

She nodded. "I understand."

She didn't. No, she did. She was his commander. There were a hundred reasons why they should not have done what they just did. She stared at Rex, unable to forget the sensation of their lips pressed together. What was logical and what she desperately wanted to do right now were two different things.

"I should get us some water," she said hurriedly, grabbing the canteens and beating as hasty a retreat from the cave as she could. She stopped several meters away, feeling guilty and headed back, looking in on Rex. His eyes were closed and he already looked like he was on the verge of sleep again. "You'll be alright?" she called softly.

Rex cracked open one sleepy eye and snorted softly. "Yes, commander. I'll manage. Thank you." She could hear his unspoken comment that he didn't need watching over. He was just fine on his own.

"Right, then," she turned back around and quickly headed back down the mountainside, searching out a small stream she'd spied on the way up. She tried not to think about what had just happened. She had not just kissed Rex.

_Twice. OK, three times, if I count the time he kissed me back. Force! What would my Master say if he knew what had happened?_

_Gah! What have I done?_

She couldn't shake the feeling something had just changed between her and Rex and she wouldn't be able to change it back.

# # #


	18. Regrets

Ahsoka walked briskly down the mountainside, hurrying down to the small stream. She wanted to get back to the cave as quickly as possible, so she didn't leave Rex alone too long. But, at the same time, she couldn't deny it was nice to take a break from the confines of the dark, damp confines of the cave.

The sun was bright in the sky and it was a pleasantly warm day. She easily found the stream and taking advantage of the warm day, she stripped off her boots, tights, belt and outer tunic so she could quickly wash. She hadn't allowed herself the luxury of using any of their precious supply of water for something as frivolous as washing. But, as she scrubbed herself down using an extra rag from her side pouch, she almost moaned with pleasure. It felt so good just to get clean again. She scrubbed down the best she could without fully undressing, and then washed down her face and montrals. She sighed with pleasure.

Feeling invigorated, and knowing she needed to get back, she quickly donned her tights, boots, belt and tunic again.

As she walked back to the cave, the full canteens bouncing against her hip, her thoughts strayed back to what had happened between her and Rex a short time before. She'd always had strong feelings toward Rex. He'd always watched out for her, everything since she'd met him at Christophsis. He'd always been the one to guide her and care for her, in a way that was vastly different from her Master.

But, was he always just doing his duty? Watching over her under orders from his General?

No, there had to be more to it. She'd kissed him, and he'd kissed her back. She hadn't imagined that part.

_My timing is awful. I never should have kissed him when he was injured._

She pushed out a long breath, thinking she owed Rex a big apology.

_I acted on impulse and put Rex in a terrible position. Not like he could just walk away from me._

Still, though... she couldn't deny it had been very pleasant kissing Rex. She shouldn't have enjoyed it so much, but she did. And, now, despite all of her misgivings, she wanted to kiss him again. Maybe not now. When he was recovered and back to being a big bossy Captain.

But, that was the problem, wasn't it? During their normal routines, opportunities like this never came up. Somehow the Force had worked to put them alone together. Maybe the Force does work in mysterious ways. She had to trust in the Force.

Arriving back at the cave, and deciding she would start with an apology, and then see how things went from there. But, she never did get to utter the words she'd rehearsed in her head.

"Hey, Rex, I'm back," she said, kneeling down by his side.

He didn't stir.

"Rex?"

_No! No! No! No!_

Panic flooded her system and she immediately pressed her fingers against his neck feeling for a pulse. She almost passed out with relief when she felt his pulse under her fingertips.

She quickly fished through her backpack for the bioscanner. No fever. She shook her head, wishing once again there was a medic here or someone who understood all of the stages of healing better than she did.

With ample water on hand, she went back to washing his face and neck. He no longer had a fever to cool, but keeping busy calmed her nerves.

She sent a wave of worry out in the Force to both her Master and Master Kenobi. It was not something she would do, but she was willing to admit she was in over her head now.

_Hurry up, Masters. I need you._

If the others didn't complete their mission soon, Rex might not be alive by the time they all evaced out.

She was so consumed with worry that when her comm finally went off, the sound was startling in the oppressive silence of the cave.

"Commander Tano, this is Commander Cody, come in."

She brought her comm up to her mouth, her hands trembling. She was so relieved she could barely speak. "This is Commander Tano. Cody, please tell me you have good news."

The smile and warmth in Cody's voice was unmistakable. "We're almost at your location, Commander. Stand by for evac. General Skywalker has broken the blockade."

# # #


	19. Evac off TriLuna (Reunited)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex is reunited with Cody

Rex awoke to the familiar feel of a hypospray in his neck, pushing cool liquid under his skin. It wasn't necessarily painful, but he never relished the feeling of cold liquid creeping under his skin. A second hypo quickly followed the first. He immediately felt more alert and noticed his pain levels were diminishing.

Cody.

He was sure he could hear Cody barking orders and so many clone voices at once, he thought he was in 79s. He lifted his head slightly and stared around the cave.

What the krek was going on? Cody, Obi-Wan, Waxer, Boil, Barlex, Boil, Crys, Longshot, Trapper, Peel, Wooley and a mixture of unfamiliar clones were moving in and out of the cave. The amount of activity taking place was making him dizzy. Other than 212th contingent, Rex didn't recognize any of the clones.

Overwhelmed, he put his head back down with a groan.

"Good, Captain, you're awake. Look over this for me," Rex turned toward the voice and had just a second to take in a clone medic dressed in the distinctive colors of the 22nd Air Combat Wing.

"Ah!" Rex objected, as a medic minilamp was shined in his retinas. He swatted at the lamp, but the medic expertly pinned his hand down.

"Just a moment, Captain, I'm almost done," he shined the lamp in Rex's other eye, before switching it off. "Looks good. No sign of a concussion."

"I'm not concussed," Rex grumbled, "I was shot in the leg."

"Yes, well, it took a long time to wake you. I had to be sure. I'm Ace, by the way."

"Rex, Captain Rex."

Ace huffed lightly with amusement. "Every clone knows who you are, Captain."

Rex wasn't sure what to make of _that_ comment. He lifted his head up again to get a better look around. There were another three medics, all from different combat battalions, examining his knee closely. He could tell from the slight movements of their buckets they were conferring over a private channel. He craned his neck back again to look at Ace. "Where did you all come from?"

"I was captured on Deko Neimodia." He pointed to the rest of the medics, dressed in the colors of the 35th, 416th and 481st. "Crush was captured on Gaftikar. Habit and Ink were both captured on Teyr."

"They were using _you_ to protect the factory," Rex shook his head in disgust at the Separatist tactics.

"Protection is putting it mildly," Ace said, with a grimace. "We were chained to the factory equipment and forced to make weapons for them. They told us it was a weapon which would be used against clones."

"You're awake," Cody said, putting a hand on Rex's shoulder.

"Cody," Rex said, reaching up to grip his brother's arm. "Tell me you blew that factory."

Cody slipped his bucket off and treated Rex to a rare smile. "Blew it sky-high, vod. You would have loved it."

Rex nodded with approval.

General Kenobi came over and studied Rex in that calm Jedi way of his. "Captain Rex, I wish I could say you were looking well. But, I have definitely seen you looking better. We'll have you back on the _Resolute_ shortly. Sorry it took so long for the evac. We had to rescue all these clones the Separatists were holding as human shields. Horrible thing they were doing. It was a new low, even for the Separatists."

Rex looked around at all the clones they'd rescued. He could just spy more clones milling about outside the cave. "Well done," he said, impressed. Anytime brothers could be saved in this war rather than lost was a huge victory.

Suddenly remembering he had urgent news to deliver to both Cody and Obi-Wan, he grabbed for his chest webbing and pulled out the leg armor stashed there. "General, Cody, _this_ is all that's left of my shin and knee guard." The four medics leaned in to take a look, as well.

"You were hit by a clone shredder?" Ace asked, looking at the damaged piece of plastoid with great interest.

Rex nodded. "This is all that's left."

Cody took the pieces and studied them gravely. "We need to make sure they never get factories like this up and running again. This damage is devastating."

Rex nodded. "Went right through my armor like I wasn't wearing it."

Cody sucked in a deep breath and tucked the pieces into his own chest webbing. "I'll make a report to High Command as soon as we get back to the ship." He tapped his webbing. "Thank you for this, Rex. It helps a lot to have these pieces to study."

Rex inclined his head respectfully.

There was a commotion in the back of the cave. Cody looked back, rising up. "What's going on?"

"Sir, we've discovered the remains of what looks like a giant arachnid," Trapper reported, holding up a charred leg. "We've never seen one this big before."

Cody immediately looked at Rex. "Your handiwork, I assume?"

Rex did his best to keep a straight face. "Uh... yes. There was a cave spider of unusual size. Turns out, they explode when you shoot them."

The clones listening in on the conversation murmured in awe. The concept of exploding invertebrates clearly went over very well with this group.

Trapper made a hand signal to get Cody's attention. "Sir, this could present a threat. Permission to go scout for more-"

"No," Cody said firmly, "our evac is already on its' way." He leaned down closer to Rex and asked quietly. "So, they actually explode?"

"Like there was a det inside of it," Rex confirmed. "I think it is because of pressure inside the cranial cavity."

"You're correct, Captain," Ace confirmed. "An arachnid's body is like a pressurized air tank. The larger the arachnid, the bigger the explosion when the pressure is suddenly released."

A murmur of appreciation went up among the clones.

"Sir," Trapper protested, "I really think Boil and I should go scout for some of these to make sure the perimeter is secure-"

Cody made an abrupt hand gesture cutting him off. He leaned in toward Rex and said quietly. "I wish I could have seen it."

"They're huge, Cody," Rex shook his head. "Like half the size of a LAAT."

"Sir? We've created a stretcher to get you to the RV point. I'm Ilum," introduced a clone dressed in the markings of the 313th. He pointed to the clone next to him, also dressed in 313th markings. "This is Ithor. Commander Cody rescued us out of the factory back there."

Rex nodded. "Thank you, troopers." It was a far better alternative than being _carried_.

The other three medics finished examining and re-wrapping Rex's knee. Rex winced as pressure was applied to his knee.

"Sorry, Captain," Crush said, "we need to stabilize the joint so we can move you."

Rex just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The pressure being applied to his knee was karkin' painful.

"He's stable, sir," Ace said to Cody. "We can move out."

"Alright, troopers, move out!" Cody routed the troopers out of the cave. "I want to reach the RV point in record time. General Skywalker is on his way. Move it! Move it!"

He tried to stay awake but passed out just as he heard the welcome sound of LAATs descending from the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have ideas for clone names, I'd love to hear them. I always need clone names for background characters and battle scenes.


	20. Return to the Resolute

"Thank you, Anakin. Your timing in breaking the blockade couldn't have been better. We're just at the RV site now Ah, yes, I can just see the LAATs coming down. We'll see you soon." Obi-Wan ended his comlink call to his former padawan, and turned his attention to Ahsoka, standing beside him.

She stared skyward at the LAATs, lost in thought. "Are you alright, Ahsoka?" Obi-Wan asked softly, "you've hardly said anything. It is most unlike you."

"Sorry, Master," said Ahsoka, "just worried about Rex."

Obi-Wan glanced over at where Rex was asleep on his stretcher, surrounded by the medics. "Well, he did take quite the hit. Mind you, I'm not complaining about the peace and quiet. It's just uncharacteristic for _you_."

Ahsoka could tell Master Kenobi was teasing her to cheer her up. She tried to think of something witty to say in reply, but her mind felt dull and blank. She was totally drained. "I'm sorry, Master. I'm...not feeling myself."

Cody came to stand on her other side. He cast a glance down at Rex before gazing skyward.

She knew Rex and Cody were close.

_He's just as worried about Rex, as I am._

Even though Cody didn't say anything, just having him there was a comfort.

She peered upwards, having veered mixed emotions about returning to the Resolute. All the gunships coming down looked like a giant flock of mechanical birds swooping in to gather up their prey. Ahsoka backed up to the very edge of the clearing to make more room for the gunships to land. She stole a quick glance over at Rex on the stretcher. He was either unconscious or sleeping. Probably unconscious. There was a lot of noise with all the Larties coming down. It would be hard to sleep through something like that.

After all the time they'd spent on this planet, it seemed strange for the battle to finally be over. She had mixed feelings about leaving and returning to _the Resolute_. Not that she didn't want to go back. She desperately wanted Rex to get the medical care he needed, and for better or for worse, the ship was home now. But, somehow this planet had changed her and changed her relationship with Rex. She was so exhausted and numb she didn't know if she was ready to face all of that just yet.

There were a number of troopers to load up with all the men liberated from the factories, but Rex was given priority along with some other wounded rescued from the second factory. Ahsoka slipped into the LAAT with him, not wanting to be separated from him. She wanted to check on Rex, but the medics were positioned on either side of him in the spot she'd occupied for days. It was strange not to be needed anymore.

Partway through the flight back, Rex's eyes popped open.

"Commander?" he immediately called out, disoriented, and looking around him in confusion from where his stretcher had been lain out on the floor.

Ahsoka slipped her way between two medics in worn-red armor which had seen better days and knelt down next to Rex.

"I'm here." Ahsoka leaned in close to him.

She noticed his forehead was starting to bead with sweat. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders, and searched around in it for something to wipe the sweat off his face. Before she could find something, one of the medics handed her a clean piece of gauze. She smiled at him in gratitude. "Ace, isn't it?"

The medic nodded, pleased she remembered his name. "The Captain's running a low-grade fever. It's normal with the type of injury he's sustained. He also may be a bit disoriented."

She leaned forward, and cleaned Rex's face, removing all the sweat, "We're on our way back to _the Resolute_."

"Right," Rex said, simply. He looked around at the injured troopers lining the walls of the LAAT. "I don't know any of these men."

Ahsoka chuckled lightly. She leaned in closer to him. "Most of them are new to me, as well, Rex. It's okay. We're okay." She leaned in and squeezed his hand lightly.

He squeezed it back and drifted off to sleep again still gripping her hand.

Ahsoka glanced up at Ace, who gave her a kind smile, with just a touch of mischievousness. "The Captain is on a _lot_ of painkillers, Commander. He probably would hold hands with a Wookie right now."

All the men in the LAAT broke out into guffaws, and Ahsoka joined in. She probably should be offended at being compared to a Wookie, but laughing together, just made her feel like she fit in. As the LAAT touched down on the deck of _the Resolute,_ she heaved out a sigh of relief. She was home.


	21. Medbay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our dear Captain doesn't like being in medbay

Rex woke up as he was being lifted out of the LAAT. There was a flurry of voices and activity around him. He tried to focus, but his head was still a muddled blur.

"Here are the readings we took from him when we first triaged him on the planet, and during transport up."

"Alright, thanks, vod. We'll take over from here. Thanks for the assist. Denal will show you to temporary quarters until we can get you back to your units."

He blinked and saw Ace conferring with Coric.

"Take care, Captain," Ace said, coming into focus above him, as he leaned down to give him a light, reassuring touch on his shoulder. He nodded respectfully to Coric, before disappearing from Rex's line-of-sight.

"Eh, thanks," Rex slurred out groggily, but Ace was already gone. He blinked as a new face appeared above him. He cleared his throat, trying to sound a bit more like the Captain-in-charge. "Coric."

"Hello, Captain," Coric said, his attention more on his scanner than on Rex. "We've been expecting you." He frowned at something on his scanner, then gave his full attention to Rex."Heard you had a bit of a mishap on the planet."

"I'm alright," Rex said, "had it all under control." The slight slur to his words belied his attempts to put a good spin on things.

Coric gave him a tight-lipped smile.

_Oh, that's not good._

Rex knew _that_ smile.

Kix appeared behind Coric, and also cast a worried look at Rex. But, for once, he didn't linger. He focused on Coric. "Are you ready to go?"

"Wait, go where?" Rex demanded. His two top field medics were leaving? Now?

Both Kix and Coric shot him regretful looks.

"Sorry, Captain," Coric said, "there's an outbreak in the Duro sector affecting the 160th. We're being sent to assist."

Rex nodded. "Of course. We'll see both when you return. I look forward to hearing your report." He was proud of having together and unaffected he managed to sound. He didn't feel at all together at the moment.

Coric signed off on a datapad, handed it to the medtech, and motioned for Rex's anti-grav strecher to be taken away.

As Rex was leaving the hangar bay, he craned his neck to look for the commander, but he'd already lost sight of her in the confusion. After days solely in her company, he had to admit he'd gotten used to having her constantly around. It was a bit disorienting to be separated from her now. The anti-grav stretcher whisked him through the corridors of _the Resolute,_ troopers automatically stepping back to make way for the wounded. He saw a few troopers do a double-take when they realized it was the Captain who was on the stretcher. Gah. There was no dignity in any of this, which is why he generally always insisted on walking him to the medbay. Or, better yet, skipping it altogether.

His leg didn't necessarily hurt at the moment, but now his head was spinning. In a way, it was worse, and the lights zipping by overhead were making him nauseous. He closed his eyes to block out the sight. This also spared him from having to see the surprised look on his troopers' faces as he was whisked by.

Rex knew immediately when they'd arrived at the medbay, even without opening his eyes, by the antiseptic smell of the place. And, even with his eyes closed, he could sense the harsh lighting. It was his least favorite place on the whole ship.

Rex whipped his eyes open as he sensed motion over him. The usual 2-1B meddroid was there, but there were newer units, as well. A small GH-7 diagnostics droid whirled over him, and an enormous FX series droid sat parked idle nearby. Krek. The FX series was terrifying. Rex had read about them in a daily brief a few months back and knew they were coming, but he hadn't realized they would be so karkin' huge. And, have so many appendages. They looked like a nightmarish cross between a B-1 battle droid and one of the cave spiders.

_Gah. Worst upgrades ever. Who approved these new droids?_

The GH-7 whisked the light emergency blanket off of him and then sliced off the shredded remains of his undersuit bottoms. He didn't care about being naked. He had the same parts as every other clone. There was nothing remarkable about his body. But, did they have to keep the medbay so cold?

The compact GH-7 droid ran several scans over him, which were painless and quick.

_So far so good. If the rest of the treatment goes this well, I'll be out of medbay in no time._

The GH-7 finished working, and then flew over to the FX series droid, communicating with a series of blinks and bleeps. The FX came to life and immediately rolled over to Rex. The FX series had eight large appendages on the top, and a number of smaller ones on the bottom. No wonder it had reminded Rex of a spider. It was terrifying.

"CT-7567, do not move," the FX said in a flat monotone. A small high-speed cutting blade emerged from one of its' appendages and quickly cut through the tight wrappings around Rex's knee.

Rex did not frighten easily, but kark, this thing was the stuff of nightmares. Was it too late to recall Coric and Kix from their medical mission? The droid extended a long metallic probe and poked his knee with the probe. Rex yowled with pain. The droid did it again, probing another tender spot in his knee. When the droid drew back, and went to examine another area, Rex reared up, leaned down and grabbed the probe.

"No! Stop!" Rex was surprised how weak and hoarse his voice sounded.

The droids' large domed head swiveled to regard Rex like he was some sort of anomaly. "Cease, or I will render you unconscious."

The B-1 and GH-7 moved in closer.

_Oh great. Now, they're ganging up on me. I'm surrounded by droids. Again._

"I will continue my examination," the FX announced, extending another probe. Maybe it was Rex's imagination, but he could swear this probe was even longer.

"Gah! Are you done?" Rex demanded, getting angry now.

The FX unit ignored him this time and probed directly into the center of his knee. "Yow!"

The droid continued to probe his knee. Rex cried out in pain again. Rex settled back against the padded headrest, and this time just bit down on his lip when the droid poked him. Rex tasted blood on his lips.

Rex yowled in pain again as the droid poked him in another incredibly sensitive area. Rex balled up his fists and grabbed at the plastifoam mattress. His patience was completely gone. "Hold!" he yelled at the droid like it was a rogue trooper.

The droid swiveled its' dome at him like it was most unimpressed, and then announced blandly, "My examination is now complete. CT-7567 exhibits sensitivity in all remaining quadrants of the knee."

_You think? I could have told you it hurt before you started poking me. Wait? All remaining quadrants? That's one way of putting it._

The droid rolled away, leaving Rex shivering on the mattress. Gah. He hated medbay. He lay back with a sad, resigned sigh, wishing Ahsoka was there with him. He'd kept telling her to stop fussing over him the whole time they were on the planet, but now that she wasn't around, he found himself missing her and the way she had looked out for him.

Rex tucked his hands under his armpits, trying to conserve body heat. His teeth began to chatter from the cold.

"Hey, Captain. Catch!" he propper himself up just in time to see a rolled-up blanket sailing his way. He snaked a hand out just in time to catch it. He recognized one of his sharpshooters, Romm, grinning at him. Romm and several other troopers had sustained burns and shrapnel injuries when their AT-TE hit a mine the previous week. Normally, troopers with injuries severe enough to keep them in medbay more than a few days were transferred off ship and over to a Republic medical facility. The recent blockade around TriLuna must have prevented any medical transports from leaving.

Rex made a quick hand signal for thank you.

Romm grinned again and gave him a thumbs up.

Rex wrapped himself up tightly in the blanket. As soon as his body heat warmed up the blanket, he stopped shivering.

Exhausted just from the short examination for the FX droid, he closed his eyes to rest for a few minutes. He was immensely grateful for the blanket. His brothers were always watching out for him, and he had millions of brothers. There might be things he greatly disliked about the war, but, he didn't dislike being a clone. He wouldn't trade his brothers in for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A GH-7 droid is the same type of small (flying) diagnostics droid used by Fives when he discovers the chips. 2-1Bs are standard issue meddroids commonly used throughout the Clone Wars. FX series droids are massive, frightening things, just as the good Captain describes them to be. They just started coming in to use toward the middle to end of the Clone Wars. A later version of this same droid is seen in The Empire Strikes Back. Picture an oversized silver garbage can with way too many arms. Clone Wars medicine was not designed with the comfort of clones in mind. 
> 
> With regards to Kix and Coric, I adore clone combat medics and stories about them. However, realistically, Kix and Coric are combat medics. Their duties lie out in the field and not in the medbay. A combat medic in the United States Armed Forces is responsible for providing emergency medical treatment in a combat or training environment. In the absence of a readily available physician or advanced care provider, they may be responsible for the creation, oversight and execution of long-term patient care. They may also work in additional roles such as operating medical and laboratory equipment, performing and assisting procedures, and beyond. My understanding of clone trooper medics is based upon the definition of real-world combat medics.


	22. Surgery

After disentangling herself from a number of clones in the hangar deck who wanted to welcome her back, Ahsoka made her way to the medbay.

Cody joined her there a few minutes later, explaining he had a debrief meeting later on with the Generals. But, Ahsoka could sense he wanted to be with Rex. She understood the feeling, so they took up a vigil together.

The medbay was now dominated by several new medical droids, the largest of whom insisted they wait outside. Unable to hold still, she paced up and down the corridor waiting for word. Cody stood quietly, typing on his datapad and occasionally shooting a glance toward Ahsoka. Like Rex, he was constantly working. He was likely already working on filing his mission reports. She would need to do one, as well, but right now she was too keyed up to even think about work.

She heard Rex shout, presumably at the droids, multiple times. If she wasn't so worried, she'd find some humor in his arguments with the oversized medbay droid. But, as it was, she could sense his pain and there was no levity in the situation.

_"Gah! Are you done?!"_

She and Cody exchanged sharp glances every time they heard Rex shout. It took all the restraint she had not to go running through the door. She knew having his injury treated must be extremely painful, but the urge to protect him was nearly overwhelming.

She'd heard Rex shout something else at the medical droid, but couldn't quite make out what it was. Obviously, things were not going well in there. Every time she heard Rex's voice, she would stand rigidly still right in front of the Medbay door, ready to rush in.

Cody put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She could tell from the tense expression on his face this was difficult for him, too. She reached up and gave his hand a quick squeeze of thanks. Having Cody here helped a great deal. He was probably the only one who cared about Rex as much as she did.

She knew she should be setting a good example right now, as Jedi and a commander. But, she could not find it inside of her to be calm. It was never one of her strongest suits. Maybe she would learn patience and the ability to stay calm with time, but right now, all she could was pace and worry.

# # #

Rex wished he could see Ahsoka before he went into surgery. But, the FX series droid, abruptly refused his request. The 2-1B explained Rex's fevers were due to sepsis, blood poisoning, in his wounded leg. He needed immediate surgery before the blood poisoning spread and proved fatal.

"You're saying if I don't have immediate surgery, I'll die?" Rex asked.

"Yes, CT-7567. Are you suffering hearing impairment?"

Rex wasn't sure if the droid was being sarcastic or truly thought he was hearing deficient in addition to his other medical problems.

"No," Rex confirmed immediately, "I heard you." The last thing he needed was a whole list of deficiencies on his medical record. Too many of those was a guaranteed one-way trip to Kamino. "Fine. Surgery it is, then."

He didn't feel like he was dying. He was just cold and uncomfortable. He also wanted to be anywhere but this medbay.

Rex was moved into a side room and prepped for surgery. The surgical suite was even colder. A sterile field was set up over him and glaring lights. He squinted into the too bright lights, shivering in the cold sterile room. His leg was thoroughly sprayed with an antiseptic spray. It left his leg wet and tingling. He recoiled at the sensation. His leg nerves were already oversensitive.

Rex adamantly refused to give up his blanket when the 2-1B tried to take it away. He hiked it up to cover his upper body. He wanted at least some part of him to be warm.

"Take my blanket and I'll blast you into spare parts," Rex threatened, using the voice he used to threaten new recruits to the 501st. The droid just stared at him, with its' unblinking eyes. He looked as if he was assessing Rex's mental state. _That voice works much better when I'm not half-naked, flat on my back, and talking to a droid,_ Rex thought wryly, noticing the 2-1B was just staring at him as if he was mentally unstable. Rex had to admit his ego was hurt by this. As Captain, he was shown great respect and his words always carried power and authority. He wasn't getting any of that here.

But, at least the 2-1B was a little more reasonable than the FX series droid. "This is acceptable," the droid said after a moment of consideration.

The FX series droid rolled into the room, brandishing an assortment of appendages that looked better suited for battle than surgery. He took several deep breaths to calm his nerves.

Rex thoroughly disliked having surgery. It seemed that every few months, some part of him was getting torn, ripped or broken. It was probably a good thing that he was never going to grow old. His joints had taken such a beating in his short life he wasn't sure he'd hold up well in the long term. Rex wasn't sure how long GAR clones could be expected to live. It was a pointless question to ask. In his line of work, clones never lasted long. He didn't have to worry about wearing out his joints.

The 2-1B slid a needle into his neck and he drifted off into oblivion.

# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is an image of a Clone Wars-era FX series medical droid. They are mildly terrifying.
> 
> https://www.thestarwarsrp.com/index.php?threads/fx-series-medical-assistant-droid.93586/
> 
> Part of the description reads:  
> "FX-series droids are known for having a fairly poor bedside manner. They also often forget things like sedatives and anesthetic when performing surgery, and must be reminded to apply them. FX droids are most often paired with more capable medical droids or organic doctors; they also often function as nurses and pharmacists in large medical facilities."
> 
> I went easy on Rex. The 2-1B saved the day and remembered to knock him out before surgery. Other than that, our good Captain is not enjoying the bedside manner of the FX droid.


	23. Replacement parts

Out in the hallway, Ahsoka continued to wait with Cody. The minutes seemed to tick by with agonizing slowness. Cody stepped away from Ahsoka a few times, his head moving slightly in the way clones did when they were taking calls on their helmet comms. Ahsoka knew and appreciated how busy he was as a marshal commander, yet he was still holding vigil out here for Rex.

Ahsoka continued to pace up and down the hallway. She was exhausted after her time on the planet caring for Rex, but still too keyed up to stop moving. She'd always been a person of action, and waiting went against her nature.

Their vigil was interrupted by noise from down the hallway, and suddenly the corridor was crowded with at least a dozen members of the 501st. Jesse was in front of the pack. He kept glancing back at his brothers, and even with the helmets on, she could tell he was trying to 'shoosh' them.

"Sorry for the interruption, Commanders," Jesse said, as the group swarmed around them in an impressed sea of armored blue and white. "We just got word Rex was back from the planet. We heard he's injured."

Fives pushed his way to the front of the pack. "How's Rex?"

Cody shook his head. "We don't know anything yet. Still waiting."

Echo took a more polite tact. "Can we wait with you?"

Cody nodded his head toward the wall. Fives leaned up against the wall next to Cody. The rest of Torrent Squadron followed suit, joining their vigil, waiting for word on their Captain. It made Ahsoka's heartache to see Rex's brothers automatically lean up against the wall with that same casual, sturdy-legged stance that Rex always used.

_He's so loved by all of them. I wonder if he knows._

The clones were completely silent as they waited. Although, judging by their slight head movements, Ahsoka could tell they were talking privately amongst themselves. She didn't mind being left out. She didn't want to talk to anyone now anyway. The hallway was too crowded now for her to pace back and forth. So, she found a spot in the hallway where she could stand comfortably and just let her mind drift. Time continued to pass. She couldn't help but think back to some of the things that happened on the planet. She reached a hand up to her lips.

"Commander?" the voice was Rex's. No. Wait. It wasn't. It was Fives. He was holding up a sterifoam cup. "I... uh... brought you tea..."

Ahsoka was so tired, she just looked at him blankly.

Fives' frowned. "It's your preferred drink, isn't it?" He looked uncertain, and his frown was so endearing Ahsoka wanted to hug him. How could these battle-hardened soldiers have such a kind side? "If you don't want it, I'll toss it in the flash disposal."

"No!" Ahsoka said, louder than necessary. She shook her head. "Sorry, Fives. I'm just tired. Exhausted, actually." She smiled at him gratefully. "I would love some tea right now. Thank you."

He gave her a charming smile and handed off the cup with a gracious nod.

She sipped the beverage and was surprised by how much it helped. She quickly downed it, not caring she was scalding the back of her tongue. Before she could walk it to the flash bin, Fives took it from her hands to throw it out for her. She smiled at him again, somehow the small acts of kindness were just what she needed right now. She took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall, feeling more restored. It was then that her stomach decided to growl.

She flushed embarrassed.

Standing to her right, Echo asked quietly: "When was the last time you ate, Commander?"

"Uh..." Ahsoka couldn't remember. She had a few ration bars in her backpack down on the planet, but hadn't consumed any. She'd been too caught up with worry about Rex to eat. "I guess it's been a few days." She'd barely gotten the words out of her mouth before all of the clones around her reached into their belt pouches and a huge assortment of rations bars were in front of her in a dozen gloved hands. She chuckled. "Uh... thank you all." She reached out and selected one at random. She smiled again at all of the clones. "You're the best command I could have ever asked for." She unwrapped the rations bar and chewed it done, using the technique Rex had showed her once long ago.

_'The key is to eat it quickly enough you don't actually taste it.'_

Fives tilted his bucket toward her. "You eat that like a clone," he quipped.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she quipped back.

Fives chuckled.

A few minutes later, the entrance to the medbay finally opened. A 2-1B peered out, taking in the large number of people congregated in the hallway.

"You are waiting for Captain Rex?" the droid asked.

"Yes," the entire group answered as one.

"You may enter one at a time," the droid said.

"Fek that," Cody muttered. He looked at the clones. "We'll go in as small groups. Ahsoka and I are going in first."

The other clones nodded, remaining in their position on the wall in the hallway.

Ahsoka followed the 2-1B, feeling strangely nervous. She was reassured by Cody's presence right beside her. Normally, she'd always regarded Cody as "Rex's friend." She wouldn't say they were particularly close. But, now, she was coming to rely upon Cody as an important friend, during a time when she needed the support.

The medbay was crowded, as it had been constantly since the start of the war. They threaded past bed after bed, filled with injured clones. Dressed identically in standard blue medbay attire, it was much harder to tell the clones apart. Ahsoka looked around anxiously for Rex. She worried that she would walk right past him, and not recognize him. She peered around for his blond head, not seeing him anywhere in the sea of injured men.

The meddroid led them through the twisting maze of narrow, identical beds, until they finally arrived at Rex. He was still sleeping, dressed in standard medbay attire. His leg was wrapped from hip to foot, and propped up with a drainage tube leading out of it. He looked thin, so his cheekbones were more angular than usual, and his pallor was pale. Ahsoka breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was still good to see him, even in this condition.

The meddroid turned to leave.

"Wait," Cody demanded of the droid, "what's his status?"

The droid paused. "We completed one surgery, removing all shrapnel from CT-7567. This unit has been treated for infection and fever. He woke up toward the end of his procedure and refused to consent to a second procedure. Since this unit is adamant about refusing further treatment, the decision about removing the leg, and getting a replacement part will be done at the ArmyMed Facility on Coruscant. The Captain will be transferred off-ship tomorrow."

The droid began leaving again.

Ahsoka's head was spinning from all the info, and she couldn't even come up with a response. Cody was able to respond faster.

"Wait! Come back here… replacement parts?" Cody shouted to the retreating droid. But, it was too late. The droid ignored him and continued to toddle away.

"Hey, Cody, people are trying to sleep here, you know," came a raspy voice.

"Rex," Ahsoka turned to the sleeping clone captain.

Rex cracked his eyes open, blearily.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, "...I think. Water?"

Cody pulled his canteen off of his belt pouch, and swooped in, lifting Rex's head, helping him drink. By the ease with which he did it, Ahsoka could tell he'd done this for other brothers many times before.

"Thanks, vod," Rex said, his voice coming out much clearer. "And, thanks for getting us out of here."

Cody eased Rex back into the pillow and huffed out a frustrated breath. "I wish we could have gotten you out much sooner, Rex."

Rex shook his head. "No. Mission always comes first. You did good, Codes, getting all those brothers out."

Cody shrugged, revealing a rare vulnerable side Ahsoka rarely saw of him. She realized he was much more unguarded around Rex.

"Eh... how are you feeling?" Ahsoka asked.

"Like they've given me one too many hypos," Rex grumbled. "Parts of me are numb that I didn't even know I had."

Cody smiled, then turned serious, "What was the droid going on about just now?"

The Captain scowled, "Oh, that."

"Yes, _that,_ " said Cody, "explain."

Rex sighed, obviously trying to pick the right words. "These krekkin' tinnies wanted to take off my leg. I woke up right before they started. I told them where they could shove their processing units. They backed off, but they're sending me down to ArmyMed. They said I need another leg or I can't fight anymore."

Ahsoka let out a gasp before she could catch herself.

Cody looked at her sharply.

"Snip-happy droids. They were ready to take off my leg whether I was awake or not." Rex hissed with annoyance. "I told them in no uncertain terms if they didn't leave me alone they'd have a date with my DC-15s and I'd set my entire rest of my command on them. I reminded them, loudly, that we are specifically trained to take out droids."

Cody smirked because he could easily picture Rex threatening a medical droid in the middle of surgery.

Ahsoka still looked pale at the ordeal Rex had just endured.

Rex seemed less phased by it, having been on the receiving end of clone medical treatment many times before. "All the pieces of my leg armor are out of my leg now. That's something. But," Rex scowled, and then sighed with annoyed resignation, "I still have to go talk to the people at Coruscant ArmyMed Center about whether this leg is fixable or not. These three tinnies here say it's not salvageable. I'm wasting my time by not taking it off now."

There was an awkward silence for a moment, as Cody and Ahsoka both struggled with the right response. Ahsoka couldn't help but envision what it would have been like to walk in just now and see Rex with a missing leg. Her stomach felt completely tied up in knots as she realized he could still lose his leg, and that he was being transferred off the ship.

Cody took this information in and was silent for a moment before saying: "Well, ArmyMed is an excellent facility. A year newer than Kaliida Shoals. It's state-of-the-art."

Rex gave a thin-lipped smile. "So I hear."

"Ah... we should probably go... the corridor is filled with 501st waiting to see you. You up for more visitors?"Cody asked.

"Of course. You'll keep an eye on things while I'm gone, Codes?" Rex exchanged a significant look with his brother, and Ahsoka once again had the feeling she was missing something. What was it they weren't saying?

Cody gripped his arm and grumbled softly. "Count on it. But, you _are_ coming back."

Ahsoka and Cody left to give the rest of his brothers a chance to spend a bit of time with their Captain. On their way out, the 2-1B summoned them to its' tiny, white cube-like office. There were no chairs. The office was purely utilitarian, designed with a droid's needs in mind. There was a desk, set-up perfectly to the droid's height, with imaging equipment, processing equipment, and a communications screen.

"You have authority over this clone, CT-7567?" the 2-1B asked without preamble.

Cody scowled. "She's his commander. I'm his marshal commander. What's this all about?"

"It is highly unlikely this unit will regenerate successfully even with prolonged time in a bacta tank." The droid said generating a 3-D hologram of the damage to Rex's knee. Ahsoka cringed. It looked even worse in 3-D. "There's extensive nerve damage which is likely to continue degeneration rather than show any signs of significant improvement with treatment. We were going to remove the leg and install a replacement part. Unit CT-7567 refused this procedure. He will be evaluated again upon his admittance at ArmyMed. If his condition continues to deteriorate, he will be removed from service."

Cody swore under his breath.

"That is all. You may leave now," the 2-1B said, rolling away.

"Wait," Ahsoka asked, pressing a hand to Cody's armored forearm, "what does he mean by 'removed from service?'"

They were interrupted by a disturbance out in the mainroom.

All three of the meddroids were circled around a group of 501st trying to usher them back out of the medbay. They were being completely ignored. Rex definitely had more than a few visitors. All dozen or so 501st men from the hallway were all crowded around his bedside and they were singing. Loudly.

Ahsoka had never heard this particular clone ballad before, but the lyrics sure were _colorful_. All of the patients in the medbay seemed familiar with the lyrics, too, and most had also joined in on the singing. The more the meddroids fussed, the more it encouraged the clones to sing louder.

In the middle of it all, still looking pale and tired, but very happy, was Rex. He was in his glory, surrounded by all his brothers, and Ahsoka knew that Rex was at his happiest, with his brothers by his side.

Cody barked out a small laugh. He pushed his way through the crowd. When the men saw who it was, they parted and let him through. Cody ended up right by Rex's side, and he joined in the singing as well. The group was just finishing up, and giving themselves a loud cheer when Admiral Yularen stormed in.

"What is going on here?" Admiral Yularen demanded. "I just received reports of a disturbance in medbay. TwoOneBee called it a full stage riot."

Cody walked up to the Admiral. "Admiral, Captain Rex is headed down to Triple Zero tomorrow and we were giving him a proper sendoff."

"I see," the Admiral said, studying Rex and glancing down at his bandaged leg. "terrible thing about that new ammunition, Captain. Hoping you will be back with us again very shortly." He nodded to Cody, Rex and Ahsoka. "Excellent job to all of you on the successful completion of your mission. Carry on then." He nodded to Rex. "Captain, we will eagerly await your return."

Rex nodded respectfully, "Thank you, Admiral." There was something sad in his voice.

Admiral Yularen made a motion to continue. "One more song, and then we'll let the Captain get some rest." He took a step back, hands tucked in their customary position behind his back, and stood next to Cody. "Captain, if you would do the honors."

Rex dipped his chin again with respect to the Admiral and then launched into a traditional clone fight song. It was a very upbeat song but with less colorful lyrics than the first one. The Admiral joined in, and Ahsoka was surprised and impressed to see he knew the words as well as the clones under his command.

Ahsoka never did forget the look on Rex's face at that moment, how he lit up as he sang with his brothers, and looked around at all their faces. It was so clear in that moment, the bond shared between Rex and all those he served with in the war. Rex's eye caught hers and he quirked his lips into a smile. She smiled broadly back at him.

In that moment, surrounded by everyone who mattered to him, Ahsoka realized, Rex was happy. They finished out the last verse of the song, and the room quieted down. It once again started to feel like a medbay with the steady hum and beeping of medical equipment.

The troopers from the 501st filed out and the place was suddenly quiet. Too quiet.

Cody said his goodbyes, too, talking to Rex very quietly in Mando. Ahsoka would have given anything to know what they were talking about because again she felt like they knew something very critical that they just weren't telling her. Cody gave Ahsoka a respectful nod and then left her alone with Rex.

Now, finally alone, Ahsoka had no idea what to say to Rex. An awkward silence stretched between them.

"I should go," Ahsoka said, seeing how tired Rex looked. "You need to rest."

Rex gave her a respectful nod. "Thank you again. For everything. You saved me."

She wanted to say more to him, but the medical droid came and shooed her away. The moment was lost.

# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to all who have read and reviewed. I love your comments.


	24. Last Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A last night together for Rex and Ahsoka

Later that night, Ahsoka lay in her quarters on the _Resolute_ _ **.**_ She'd taken a badly needed shower, and eaten her first full meal in several days. She'd forgotten to ask Rex if he'd eaten. Surely they'd fed him, right?

By all rights, she should be sound asleep right now. But, her thoughts were racing and she could not stop thinking about Rex. Maybe it was just because she'd been with him constantly during their mission on TriLuna and it was strange to be separated now. Maybe it was worry over everything the medical droid had said about the severity of Rex's injury. And, yes, it was all of those things, but, she couldn't deny it was also something more, too. She was getting _attached_. Despite every lecture she'd been given while being raised at the Jedi Temple, there was no denying the truth. She was friends with many of the clones under her command and cared about all of them, but with Rex her feelings were different. She knew she shouldn't feel this way. She should probably meditate about this for hours, and try to forget anything that had happened between them on the planet which wasn't strictly professional.

But, she couldn't forget about it. And, there was no way she was sleeping, despite her severe fatigue. There was only one place on the ship she wanted to be right now. She quickly dressed and made her way down to the medbay. Moving with the quiet stealth of a Jedi, she slipped in undetected. The lights were dimmed low for sleep. She made her way over to Rex's bed and expected to find him awake. She thought he would greet her with his customary curious look, demanding to know why she wasn't asleep. But, he didn't greet her. He was asleep with his pale face pressed sideways into his pillow, an occasional grimace flitting across his features.

He looked different without his armor, and he was badly in need of a shave. Like most clones, he had no extra fat on him, but he'd dropped several pounds during their ordeal on TriLuna and all roundness was gone from his face. The lines of his face were all sharp angles now. Rex normally had a hearty appetite and had occasionally tried to sneak the dessert off of her tray during mealtimes in the mess. Seeing him like this now pained her. She longed to take all of it away - the discomfort, the weight loss, the fever. She wanted to return Rex to the way he was before the commando droids had taken out his knee. She gently cupped the back of her hand against his cheek.

Rex's eyes snapped open and he regarded her curiously. His eyes flitted back and forth taking in his surroundings, before studying her again. "What are you doing here?" he whispered quietly.

Ahsoka sighed, removing her hand. "I couldn't sleep. I'm sorry. I should go." She turned to leave, but Rex caught her hand. She turned and regarded him with wide eyes.

"No, it's okay. I'm... glad you're here." He drew in a deep breath, meeting her gaze. "Look, Ahsoka, I meant what I said to Cody. I don't know when I'll be back. Take care of the men for me, okay?"

Ahsoka's brow furrowed. "Of course, Rex. You know, I will, but you're coming back."

Something flitted across his face, then, a look she couldn't decipher, before he locked it down and his face returned to a neutral expression. "You want to stay a few minutes?" He patted the bunk next to him and indicated there was enough space for her to lie down on top of the blankets next to him.

Without hesitation, she slid in next to him and leaned up against his shoulder, careful not to disturb his injured leg. She'd curled up next to her master, and even the clones, on missions before when space was tight. But, this was different. It was always different with Rex. She noticed he'd changed the topic when she'd pointed out he would be coming back, but she decided not to comment on it. She didn't want to spoil the moment. She yawned hugely and settled in a little more comfortably.

Rex chuckled and lightly wrapped an arm around her. "Comfortable there, Commander?"

"Mmmmm hmmmmm," Ahsoka muttered, already half-asleep.

He chuckled again and hearing the sound rumbling through his chest like music to her montrals. She fell asleep listening and feeling the steady rise and fall of his breathing under her cheek.

Rex stayed awake, keeping watch over his commander. He probably should have sent her away, back to her quarters. But, she looked so exhausted and vulnerable. It was true what he'd said to Cody and Ahsoka. He didn't know what was going to happen after he was sent to ArmyMed. If he didn't return, these would be the last moments he'd ever have with Ahsoka. He stayed up the rest of the night, watching over his commander, one last time.

# # #

Ahsoka woke to a gentle shaking on her shoulder. She blinked blearily, trying to figure out why she felt so warm and safe.

"Ahsok- eh... Commander, time to go. It's 0500." Rex's deep voice rumbled from directly under her montrals.

She blinked up at him and looked around. Gah. She'd fallen asleep in the medbay. On top of Rex's chest. Her eyes flitted around noticing a mechanical scurrying across the floor. The morning cleaning droids were here already. The whole medbay would be coming awake very soon.

"I... have to go," she said quickly to Rex, slipping off the bunk, careful again not to bump him in anyway. She gave him a quick, awkward smile before slipping unnoticed out of the medbay. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Rex smiled as he watched her go, admiring her stealth. Having her stay with him for his final night on _the Resolute_ was more than he could have ever asked for or hoped. As she disappeared from sight, his smile faded away. The finality of leaving hit him. He stared at the ceiling. He was overtired from not having slept, and couldn't deny the sinking feeling of dread at having to go to ArmyMed.

The B-1 came over to briskly change a drainage tube on his leg, yanking it out and replacing it like he was jamming something in on an old speeder bike versus a living being.

"Krek!" Rex hissed. "Easy!"

The B-1 ignored him, of course, and injected Rex's leg with something that stung fiercely, before moving on. The clone captain lay back, trying to ignore the sting, and stared at the ceiling again. He had little else to do.

By 0600, he heard the sounds of the ship's giant thrusters engaging as the ship settled into orbit around Coruscant. They were here.

The GH-7 droid buzzed over, datapad in hand. "Clone CC-7567 Transfer Approved. Wait here for transport to Coruscant ArmyMed."

_Wait here. Like I'm going to walk off._

A few minutes later, he was being loaded onto a medical transport shuttle with several other 501st wounded. He could just barely see out a tiny viewport window and watched the _Resolute_ disappear in the distance as the shuttle smoothly accelerated away from the large cruiser and headed into the crowded skylines of Coruscant.

"Do you need a painshot, Captain?" asked a medtech, leaning over him. He wasn't 501st, so he must have come up from ArmyMed. He was cheerful and had the exuberance of a shiny.

Rex shook his head. He'd had enough shots and stims to last him a lifetime. He wanted to be awake and alert to see what happened next.

"Not to worry, Captain," the exuberant medtech said. Rex had to give him credit. He was trying at his job. Being a medtech was a boring assignment for any clone. Transporting wounded was not the same as being a combat medic, although you had much less likelihood of being killed. But, no clone relished getting an assignment where they couldn't use the training they'd been preparing for during the entire early years of their life. "We'll have you checked into ArmyMed in no time."

 _That's fekkin' great_ , Rex thought bitterly, but he kept his thoughts to himself. It was not the fault of the medtech Rex had been shot by commando droids. He managed to mutter out: "Thank you, trooper."

"I know who you are, Captain," the medtech said, straightening up and putting his shoulders back. "Everyone knows who you are. The 501st has quite a reputation."

Rex wasn't sure if that was good or bad. His General was known for breaking rules.

"I'm Rusty," the medtech said. "I'm pretty new around here myself, but maybe if you need anything while you're here, I can help you out."

An ally within ArmyMed could be useful. "Alright," Rex said.

"Maybe then you could tell me some stories of the 501st?" Rusty said hopefully.

 _Stories of the 501st?_ Rex had only ever done his duty. Why would that be interesting?

The shuttle touched down on the roof of ArmyMed and cut off any further conversation. Rex was quickly offloaded with the other wounded troopers and whisked inside the facility. The large loading doors slid shut behind them, sealing off all daylight. And, so, Rex's new existence began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if a medtech is an actual clone designation. This is more fake medicine on my part. In our galaxy, a medical technician (commonly known as a med tech) is a highly-skilled health professional that performs a variety of different jobs in the health field. I see this designation as different from a combat medic because this would be a non-combat position. For clones who spend the first ten years of their lives training for nothing but combat, these types of assignments would likely seem a bit underwhelming. For those of you would have read Karyn Travis' Republic Commando series, think of the character of Maze. Alpha-26, also known as Maze, was an Alpha-class Advanced Recon Commando captain who ended up being stationed on Coruscant for most of the war. 
> 
> And, once again, if you have any ideas for clone names, please feel free to send them my way. I am always in need of background characters to fill in the story. Be aware that not all background characters survive, so don't get too attached. :)


	25. ArmyMed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex does not like being in medical facilities, but he does connect with another vod. Back on the Resolute, Ahsoka is having a tough time focusing and gets a surprising talk from Cody.

Rex lay back on a thin, stiff mattress in a small treatment room at Army Med. He stared up at the bland white ceiling, trying to let his mind go blank. It did no good to try to think of his future. It had been hours since he'd been deposited in this room, and he was still waiting for his first evaluation. Ah, yes, this is one thing he clearly remembered from every stay at a med facility- hours and hours of waiting around with absolutely nothing to do. It was maddening for clones who were used to constant activity.

He fidgeted restlessly, wishing he could get up and pace the room. Or, go use the refresher. Or, find a cup of caf. Or, maybe some food. He hadn't eaten at all yesterday due to his surgery. It had been a while since he'd eaten much of anything, come to think of it. But, now that the shrapnel was out of his leg he was feeling better and his appetite was back.

_Krek. I'm bored. And, hungry._

It was S.O.P. to send clones with their gear if they were anticipated to stay at any of the medical facilities for more than a brief visit. It was meant to be a practical step in the event they needed to be sent to a new assignment upon release from a med facility. Not that GAR or Kaminoans ever made accommodations for injured clones. No, the rules were in place in case an entire unit was wiped out while a clone was at a med facility. With the heavy losses they'd be sustaining lately at the hands of the Separatists, these types of losses had been happening all too often. The Seppies could manufacture droids a lot faster than Kamino could turn out clones.

Gah. He wished he had something to keep him busy and take his mind off everything. If only he had his gear and his blasters. Maintaining his kit always soothed his mind and he often came up with his best ideas while he was reworking the wires in his helmet or taking apart and reassembling his DC-15s. He had too much time to think now and it was starting to get to him.

The door to the room slid open and Rex pushed himself up on one elbow. His stomach clenched. He wasn't filled with both relief and dread to finally see either a meddroid or a natborn about his knee-

He immediately recognized the medtech dressed in the standard blue scrubs of ArmyMed personnel.

"Captain?" Rusty poked his head into the room, his voice tentative and unsure. "Hey, I'm... uh... on my break. I have a few minutes. And, wanted to know if you'd like some company?" He leaned half in and half out of the room, not sure if he was welcome or not. He had the same tentative demeanor as all shinies.

Fives would love him, Rex thought instantly. He always made a point of taking the shinies under his wing and breaking them of their shyness as quickly as possible. Probably explained why there were so many brash, outspoken clones in the unit. They were all prodigies of Fives.

Rex waved him in. "Yeah, come on. I'd welcome the company. Bored out of my mind, to be honest."

Rusty stepped in the room and the door swished shut behind him. He still stayed back, hesitantly by the other side of the room. "Yes, I... uh... they're always backed up doing the evals." He pulled out a plastisack from behind his back. "I... have my lunch... I... got it to go..." he blushed and looked away, not meeting Rex's eyes. "I thought maybe you could... tell me stories of the 501st?" He peered into the bag. "The sandwich... it's uh... ground Ettel nuts, I think. The food here is slightly better than the barracks. I think it's because they have to feed the natborns, too." He pulled out half a wrapped sandwich and thrust it toward Rex like a peace offering.  
  
Rex's hand was reaching to grab it before he could even think about it. Rex tore into the sandwich, barely tasting the first few bites. And, then he slowed down a bit. The sandwich was very good. Rusty hadn't lied. A sandwich for a story? Rex wasn't sure he was any good at telling stories, other than the ones he and his brothers sometimes swapped when drinking Hardcase's homemade brew. They didn't indulge that often since they had to always be battle-ready, but sometimes after a particularly hard battle, they'd meet up in a forgotten storeroom off the hangar and blow off some steam. It always seemed to help, even if he couldn't seem to remember half of what they talked about the next day. It was just one more they coped with the terrible stress and loss they were just supposed to be able to handle all the time.

There was no place to sit in the cramped room, other than Rex's thin mattress, so Rusty set the plastisack down on the floor and leaned up against the wall. He unwrapped his sandwich and the two ate in companionable silence. Seeing how quickly Rex finished his half, Rusty held out the remainder of his food. "I'm not that hungry. You want to finish mine?"

Rex didn't hesitate and accepted the offering with a quick nod, polishing it off as quickly as he had the other piece. He hadn't even begun to appreciate how starving he was until he'd begun to eat. Rusty let him eat in peace, quietly standing next to him, with one leg comfortably pressed up against the wall behind him. As soon as Rex finished the sandwich, Rusty leaned down and handed the plastisack to him. "There's caf and a Corellian Apple Tart. It's yours. The caf here isn't strong enough, but the tarts are always good."

Rex accepted the bag with another grateful nod. Caf? Right now, he didn't care if it was brewed from LAAT-oil. He reached in the bag and eagerly pulled the sterifoam cup and took a long dreg. "Gah. Thank you, Rusty." It _was_ a weak cup of caf. He probably could drink ten of them. But, he was still incredibly grateful for it. After several sips he passed the cup over to Rusty, sharing it with him like he did with his brothers. Rex reached into the sack to explore the rest of the contents. A fruit tart? Rex had only ever had one of these on leave when Ahsoka had insisted he try one-

He pushed away thoughts of Ahsoka. It would do no good to dwell on that now. He carefully tore the tart in half and gave the bigger piece to Rusty. The young clone shook his head and accepted the smaller piece instead.

"You're a good vod, Rusty," Rex said. And, then cocked his head to the side with curiosity, his mood significantly improved now that he'd eaten. "You mind sharing how you got your name?"

Rusty looked down shyly. "Not sure there's much to tell. My batchmates named me. Said I asked too many questions and I was going to wear out our training sergeant. They also said I had a habit of... eh... always trying too hard and pushing things too far in training. Our sergeant once complained I was going to wear out a rusty old sergeant like him."

Rex nodded with understanding. "So, you got named Rusty."

Rusty shrugged.

"I don't know if it's necessarily a bad thing to try so hard," Rex reasoned. "That's how you get to be the best in your squad."

"I was," Rusty said, "but it didn't do me any good. I wanted a combat assignment. Not that I was given any choice. I ended up assigned here." He made a vague gesture around to the bland white surroundings of ArmyMed.

_I wouldn't want to be stationed in a place like this either_ , Rex thought.

"Alright, I promised you a story," Rex said, cognizant of the fact Rusty likely didn't have too much time on his break. He scrunched his face up thoughtfully. All of his memories of battle were painful because they involved losing brothers. But, there were some stories his brothers found particularly humorous and wanted him to re-tell again and again. "I suppose I could tell you about the time my General threw me off the top of an exploding fortress wall."

Rusty's eyes widened. "But, you were wearing a jetpack, right?"

"No jetpack. And it wouldn't have been so bad if he'd warned me first." He shook his head ruefully. "I'd like to say I handled it well, but truth be told, I screamed much of the way down."

Rusty's eyes twinkled with both excitement and amusement. "What happened?"

"Aw, well, my General is a Jedi, like all of the Generals. He stopped my fall right before I smashed face-first into the dirt."

"Wow," Rusty said impressed. He checked the chrono on his wristlink. "I have time for one more story if we make it quick. Please, Captain? Just one more?"

# # #

"Ahsoka!" Anakin said, aggravated, "Hey! Ahsoka! Have you heard anything I've said?"

_What? How long has Master been speaking to me?_

Earlier that morning, after she'd left MedBay, she'd hurried back to her quarters for a quick shower. She was hoping to grab something from the Mess Hall and then share it with Rex. She was sure he hadn't eaten at all with his surgery. She'd showered in record time, stuffed a plastisack with food at the mess and was just hoofing it back to the medbay when she was intercepted by her Master.

"There you are, Ahsoka," Anakin placed a hand on her shoulder, halting her forward motion. "You weren't answering your comm." Ashoka automatically placed her hand down to her belt and then sheepishly realized in her haste to get dressed she'd forgotten her comlink.

"I'm sorry, Master," she said hastily, "I was just on my way to see Rex-"

Anakin shook his head. "That will have to wait, unfortunately. I'm sure he's in good hands. Obi-Wan and Cody are waiting for us in conference room 212F. I've been searching for you for several minutes. We're late as it is."

"Master, I just need a few minutes-"

Anakin gave her a sympathetic look and his voice softened. "I understand your concern, Ahsoka. I'm worried about Rex, too. But, you have to give him some time to recover, okay? That's his job, right now. And, you need to do yours. We need a full debrief about your time on TriLuna. Admiral Yularen is expecting a report."

She'd hoped the meeting would be short. When were these meetings ever short?

"Ahsoka," Anakin said, aggravated, "Did you hear anything I just said?"

_How long has he been talking to me? What were we talking about? Was it their next mission? Maybe?  
_

"Of course," Ahsoka said quickly, glancing down at a long scratch on the table to avoid meeting the disappointed look on her Master's face. "I... was listening."

"Are you OK?" Master Kenobi asked, in a gentler tone than the one Anakin had used, "you seem... distracted."

"Do I?" Ahsoka asked needless, stalling for time. Ok, admittedly, she hadn't been listening at all.

"Yes, you do," said Master Kenobi, "even without the Force, it's obvious. You haven't stopped fidgeting since we started the meeting. You're even more restless than Anakin at this age and that's saying a lot."

"Nice, way to build up my credibility in front of my padawan," retorted Anakin, dryly.

"Oh, I think she knows you better than that by know, Anakin," Obi-Wan said.

Ahsoka tuned out the two Jedi Masters, figuring they were going to engage in another one of their lengthy verbal sparring sessions. Instead, she was completely tuned into all the shipboard sounds of _the Resolute_. Maybe if she listened hard enough she could tune in to the sounds of the LAATs taking off from the hangar deck. One of the LAATs would have Rex on board with the other wounded headed down to Coruscant-

"Ahsoka!" Anakin's voice startled Ahsoka to the point that her hand jerked and her caf cup tumbled over.

Commander Cody, sitting next to Ahsoka, caught the cup, and set it back upright. She grabbed at the cup, as well, and he gave her fingers the briefest touch of support before letting go.

"Ahsoka!" her Master repeated.

"Yes, Master?" Ahsoka could tell her Master was angry with her now. She braced herself for his oncoming lecture. Surprisingly, it never came. Master Kenobi intervened on her behalf.

"I think now would be a good time for a break, Anakin," said Obi-Wan, "Ahsoka, would you be kind enough to run down to the medical bay and get an update on Captain Rex's condition?"

_Thank you, Master Kenobi._

"Why don't we just com-" Anakin started.

"Excellent thinking, Master. I'll be back soon," Ahsoka was out the door as fast as her legs could take her, racing through the corridors. A few of the 501st troopers tried to say hello to her, she tried to smile in return as she ran by, but she was in such a hurry, it probably came out as more of a strained grimace. The wait for the hololift seemed interminable. She was considering sliding down one of the emergency access tubes when the lift finally arrived, completely filled up with two hoverloaders of supplies.

_Ah, just my luck, every lift is tied up with supplies!_ Ahsoka waited, very impatiently, while supplies were offloaded. She was so impatient, that she helped offload the supplies with the Force, and then ran into the lift. Finally down on medbay level, she sprinted for the medbay. She ran into the medbay and stopped short. The room was emptied of troopers. She rounded the corner where Rex had been, and there was... a bare mattress, stripped of its bedding. Ahsoka sank to her knees. She knew this was a possibility. So, why did it hurt so much? She tried to stand up again, but she just couldn't. Suddenly, she felt an armored hand on her shoulder. It startled her so much that she let out a shriek. She lost her balance and fell backwards into a white set of armored legs.

"Sorry, Commander, I didn't mean to startle you," the familiar voice instantly tugged at Ahsoka's heartstrings. But, it wasn't quite the right voice. Rex's voice was just a little bit deeper in pitch, always gruffer like he shouted too much.

Ahsoka looked up into the familiar helmet of Commander Cody. Ahsoka teared up. She couldn't help it.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force back the tears. _Jedi don't cry. Jedi don't cry. Jedi don't cry._ She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again _._

"Cody," Ahsoka said simply, trying to get a hold of herself.

"Yes, Commander," Cody said, pulling her upwards and setting her back gently on her feet. He tugged off his helmet and clipped it to his belt in a one-smooth practiced move. His eyes were filled with compassion and said the words he could not say. _I understand._ His words were polite and professional, as always. "Are you alright, Commander?"

Ahsoka tried to respond in kind, maintaining polite professionalism. She glanced at the bare mattress and all of the empty bunks in the medbay and just for this moment, she didn't want to have to pretend. "No, Cody, I'm not okay." She blew out a long breath, and then let out her frustration in a long stream of un-Jedi-like profanity, much of which she'd learned from eavesdropping on Rex when he was upset.

To her surprise, Cody laughed at her language, and the laugh was so very familiar that it hit Ahsoka like a physical blow. They might talk a bit differently, but they laughed exactly the same. "You're spending too much time hanging around with us clones. Come on, Commander, I'll walk you back to the briefing room."

Ahsoka sighed miserably, her shoulders drooping low as they walked out of medbay. "What if he doesn't come back?" she hadn't even realized she'd voiced her fears out loud until Cody responded.

"I don't know what will happen to Rex," Cody admitted. "He's hurt pretty badly. But, Rex has always been full of surprises."

Ahsoka clung to Cody's words as they walked together back to the briefing room. Rex was remarkably resilient.

Cody cast another glance at her as they waited for the lift. "Look, I promised Rex I'd watch out for his command while I promised Rex I'd watch out for everyone in the 501st. That includes you, Commander. I can't always be around because I have my own command. You'll have to do your part, too, Commander. We have some significant engagements coming up and the 501st will be on top of your game."

Ahsoka mulled over his words. "You mean like paying better attention during briefings?"

"Yes," Cody said, without mincing his words, "Rex isn't here to back you up. You need to be there for everyone in your command."

"Alright," Ahsoka sucked in a deep breath. "Message received." She gave Cody a look of respect. "I see now why you're a marshall commander."

Cody snorted. "I wasn't given much of a choice in the matter. But, thank you, Commander."

They walked in companionable silence the rest of the way back to the briefing room.

# # #

After Rusty left to return to his shift, Rex managed to doze off into a fitful sleep. He was startled awake when the door finally opened. A natborn doctor, who looked to about twice the age of General Kenobi, walked in wearing the ubiquitous scrubs worn by all of the staff at ArmyMed. He glanced briefly at a datapad in his hand before looking up at Rex. "You're CT-5767?"

"I prefer to go by Rex. Captain Rex."

"You prefer a name. That's fine, then." His name was affixed to his scrubs. ANHALT. But, he didn't bother introducing himself. "Alright, Captain, let's see what we have going on here." He swiped through his datapad. "Mmmm... part of the transfers down from the _Resolute_ this morning... Ah! Oh, this interesting. Clone shredder damage? That's different." He gave Rex a look of speculative interest over his datapad.

Rex just watched him impassively, not in the mood to give his opinion on the topic of the new Separatist munitions. He watched the doctor unwrap the post-surgical bandages. Rex was amazed at how much padding there was. It came as something of a surprise, then, to Rex when his bare skin finally appeared. The doctor unwrapped the final layers off of Rex's knee with a cool, practiced, impartial touch. Rex steeled himself for the fiery pain of having his knee handled, but he didn't feel anything.

_Why can't I feel anything?_

Rex stayed completely silent, his eyes carefully tracking everything the doctor did. His knee didn't look any better for having had that surgery the day before. If anything, it looked even more swollen.

"Well, Captain, you're an interesting case. We haven't seen clone-shredder induced trauma before," the doctor pulled out a portable imager and studied Rex's knee more carefully. He looked up again. "Alright, I'm going to put you on the waiting list to get some high-resolution scans done. They're backed up at the moment. But, these scans could be of great interest to many."

Rex scowled at the doctor fiercely. He didn't care about being an object of fascination. He just wanted to get his kriffin' knee fixed. Everything that happened here determined his future.

"What can you do to _fix it_?" Rex asked impatiently.

"Fix it?" the doctor looked at the 501st Captain like he'd asked a ridiculous question. He pointed to the center of Rex's kneecap, "You have almost no cartilage left. We can try bacta, but I'm doubtful as to whether it will fully regenerate. The damage is very substantial. Bacta needs a starting point to regenerate from. I was under the impression they explained all of this to you on _the Resolute._ "

Rex felt his stomach clench in knots and his whole system chilled even colder than he already was. "There must be something you can do," he said, staring at the doctor with a look of icy calm.

The doctor shook his head as he pointed to another section of Rex's knee, "Over here, the nerve damage is so substantial that I don't know if your brain will ever be able to talk to these nerves again. The 2-1B onboard your ship said they offered you a limb replacement, but that likely would have been a waste of time."

"Wait, why?"

"With this level of damage, I don't even know if you're a candidate for limb replacement. You may be too far damaged to be salvageable."

"What?!" Rex practically reared up from the thin mattress where he was sitting.

"Calm down, Captain. Nothing has been decided for sure yet. This facility is always very good about giving clones a small window of time in which they can try to heal. So, for you, I'm going to recommend we put you in bacta and hope for the best. Maybe you'll get some nerve regeneration and then we can go from there."

# # #

Rex had to wait the rest of the afternoon to be sent for the scans. He was too annoyed to try and sleep anymore, so he stared at the ceiling. The words of the doctor kept running through his head.

As the sun was starting to set on Coruscant, a technician came to get him for the scans. The scans themselves didn't take that long. Another doctor, whose name Rex didn't even catch, looked over the scans and just shook his head. He looked over Rex's medical records on a datapad, shook his head again, and then ordered Rex straight into bacta. Rex flinched as he was lowered into the cold, gel-like bacta. Fourteen days of submersion. Hopefully, the miracle substance would do its thing and he could be reassigned back to _the_ _Resolute_. But, there was that terrible nagging feeling in his gut that this time he wasn't going back home.

# # #


	26. Mud, Honor and Armor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After two weeks, Rex is hauled out of bacta. Ahsoka struggles during the Battle of Kothlis.

The entire planet smelled like Gamorrean snarook. Her master claimed it smelled like warm and moldy cheese. The comparison didn't help with the smell. No matter how much it rained, it never got better. Two weeks into the mission of Kothlis, and Ahsoka was just as miserable as the day they'd deployed. The place was a fetid muddy pit. She often wondered how Rex was doing back at ArmyMed. Hopefully, he was almost fully recovered and would be rejoining the Legion soon. Imagining Rex back with the 501st always brightened her mood, and temporarily blocked out the misery of Kothlis.

She wished they were in communications range, so she could find out how he was doing. But, communications were exceedingly spotty. Most of the time, the Separatists jammed all their communications. They were lucky if they could get 30 to 60 seconds of a clear signal to report back to the Jedi Council. Even then, the signal was so degraded, it became a guessing game of trying not to interpret the Council's wishes. Her Master took this as an invitation to simply do things his way. Without someone to tease, or for her eyes to constantly seek out in the field, there just was nothing to break up the monotony of each day. The days seemed endlessly slow, and one day blurred into the next.

The 501st had split off from the 212th for a two-pronged attack. She missed Cody's steadying presence. He grounded her and she needed that now more than ever. Her Master had always been prone to mood swings, but they were happening more frequently lately. She wished she had someone she could confide in about her frustrations. When Master Kenobi was around, he seemed to keep Master in check. But, he was on the other side of Kothlis with the rest of the 212th.

Ahsoka huddled in a small, rocky enclave, wrapped in a thin, standard-issue Republic blanket. Rex used to always curse under his breath when he was frustrated. It was how she'd learned the more colorful bits of her vocabulary. She muttered under her breath, issuing a few choice curse words, once again rearranging the blanket, trying to seal in a bit more bodyheat. _Frak,_ _I'm freezing. Hate this weather and this planet._ She muttered several more choice words. It felt good to say them, so Ahsoka stretched her mind and called up every curse word she'd ever heard Cody or Rex utter, and then muttered all of those under her breath, too. _Huh, I do feel a bit better._ She felt as if she'd released a bit of steam off the pressure valve than her existence had become over the past few weeks. She repeated all the curse words again, carefully committing the whole sequence to memory.

 _Huh- there's almost a rhythm to the words_ , Ahsoka noticed. She muttered them again, this time humming a little tune with them. _I think I might be on to something here._ The words seemed to flow so well with the music. She sung it again and again, perfecting the words with the rhythm of the song. She began tapping her foot in rhythm to the song.

The rain started coming down even heavier, now accompanied by globs of hail. Ahsoka watched the hail pieces bounce off the ground with a distinctive 'plink.'

Fives, Echo and Mask came running through the rain and hail, looking for a bit of shelter. The hail made a thwacking sound as it pelted against their armor. Ahsoka waved to them, indicating they could come join her. They ran in her direction and joined her in the little enclave. They nodded their thanks. Ahsoka nodded in return but kept singing and humming under breath. She was doing it automatically now, not really thinking about it. It had become a self-soothing tune. She stared out at the freezing rain, lost in thought. Normally, she would engage with any troopers under her command, but she was worn down by this planet. She was worn down by this war. She was worn down from being separated from the one person who always made all of this seem O.K. So, she just kept humming her tune, missing the shocked looks exchanged between the troopers in the cave. After a while, their shock faded to amusement and the three troopers tapped their feet and moved their heads, caught up in the catchy rhythm of the song.

# # #

 _Uggggh_. Ahsoka grimaced as she sank ankle-deep in mud. _Not liking this._

She began cursing the planet under her breath as she attempted to pull her boots free of the mud. She blew out a breath. Her colorful litany had become her mantra. Muttering relieved her frustration and boredom. Humming her song was self-soothing, and singing made her feel less alone. So, Ahsoka sang and hummed. She stopped and looked around. She hadn't made much progress. The mud was still totally hampering her progress.

In her misery, Ahsoka began to have odd, illogical fantasies. She visualized destroying the whole planet in one fell swoop. She knew this was a ridiculous thought. There was nothing in the universe that could destroy a planet, not even the power of the Force. But, it was a nice fantasy, all the same. She detested this muddy pit.

As she struggled to yank her boot out of the mud, she once again visualized the entire planet disappearing off the cosmic map. She harshly tugged her boot out of the sticky mud. Her foot came up, but not her boot. She stood there, balanced on one leg, staring at her stockinged foot dangling above her stuck boot.

"Arrrrgh!" she gnashed her teeth in frustration.

She shoved her foot back into her boot and tried to lift her foot. But, she only succeeded in getting her other foot mired in the mud as well.

"Ahhhhh!" Ahsoka wanted to stomp her feet in frustration, but she couldn't move her feet enough to do so.

"How's it going, Snips?" Anakin asked, slogging through the mud toward her. For some reason, he seemed to be having an easier time traversing the muddy terrain. Why did things seem to come easier to him? It didn't seem fair.

"Oh, just great, Master," Ahsoka replied, planting her hands on her hips, and staring down at her stuck feet. "I was just doing my impression of a Kothlian tree. I've decided to take up permanent residence, right in this spot."

Anakin studied her for a moment, then put his hands around her waist, and easily lifted her out of the mud. Her boots pulled free with a gurgling, sucking sound. "There you are. No more playing in the mud. We have work to do."

He walked away without looking back. As soon as he set Ahsoka down, her feet sank back down into the mud. She growled in frustration and tried to free herself again. Sensing she wasn't following, Anakin turned around and walked back to Ahsoka.

"Aw, come on, it's not that bad," he pulled her free of the mud again, this time carrying her a short distance to a drier, sturdier patch of dirt before setting her down. "We're making progress here, despite their constant jamming of our communications. We'll take Kothlis and then we'll be off to our next exciting destination... Look at it this way, you're getting to travel to exciting places you may not have seen otherwise. Surely this beats just sitting in the Temple?" Anakin gave her such a cheerful smile that Ahsoka didn't have the heart to tell him what she really thought of the planet. They walked side-by-side, greeting their troopers as they walked.

Ahsoka glanced at her Master. He was in a good mood today. It was a nice change from some of his unexplainable bouts of sullen moodiness. But, now she was the one in a bad mood. She scowled at her Master. "About that finishing up part? Just how do we accomplish that exactly?" Ahsoka stumbled and nearly fell. Her feet were mired in mud again. Ahsoka grunted in frustration and began tugging at her boots. Anakin shook his head at her, amused at her continued struggles with the mud. She continued on with their conversation, while she struggled to free her boots. "Do we even have a cohesive strategy to get off of Kothlis? Seems to me we are getting our tails kicked while the Council makes up their minds, and we are fast running out of clones." Ahsoka's full attention was on tugging her boots out of the quagmire of mud. She missed the look of rage that passed across her Master's face. But, she felt it. She looked up startled to see her Master clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Master?" she asked, hesitantly, "are you OK?"

"Padawan, " Anakin said curtly, and pointing to a spot out of earshot from the rest of the troops, "a word in private."

_When he refers to me as 'Padawan,' it's always bad._

The troopers close enough to overhear shot Ahsoka a look of sympathy. Ahsoka's shoulders drooped, "Yes, Master." She attempted to follow his orders and head to where he had pointed. But, she was still stuck. Anakin pulled her free once again, but, he did so with much less gentleness this time. He set her roughly back on her feet. Ahsoka almost lost her balance, and narrowly avoid tumbling into the mud. Anakin stalked away, headed over to a thicket a small distance away. Ahsoka obediently followed.

Anakin made a hand gesture to a couple of troopers who had just stopped to see if they need assistance. Anakin shook his head curtly, gesturing that they should continue walking, "Go. We'll catch up," he said curtly, in a tone that brokered no argument.

Anakin stared at Ahsoka for a long moment, not saying anything. She met his gaze, trying to figure out what it was she had done wrong this time. Maybe if she could figure out what it was, she could apologize in advance and head off his rebuke. But, as Ahsoka looked up into his eyes, she couldn't get any clues as to her latest misstep. Anakin continued to just gaze at her, not saying anything. Ahsoka began to squirm under his continued scrutiny. Somehow, his not saying anything at all was much worse than one of his heated lectures. She was about to open her mouth and just offer a general apology for whatever it was that she had done when Anakin finally spoke.

He sighed, rubbed both hands against his temples, as if rubbing away a headache, and then gave Ahsoka a sad, paternal look: "Ahsoka, I understand that you're tired. You're frustrated." His tone was much gentler than what she had been expecting, "I know how worried you've been about Rex. Everybody here feels the same way, including me. We're all feeling the strain of not having him here. Appo is a competent commander, but nobody could fill Rex's boots. He is the heart and soul of the 501st." Ahsoka stared at her Master in surprise, feeling that just perhaps he was getting much better at this Master business, after all. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know Rex has taken you under his wing since your arrival. Frankly, even I'm extra nervous without having him around. I relied upon him to keep you out of trouble."

Ahsoka flinched. She could keep herself out of trouble. She opened her mouth to object, but her Master put a hand forestalling anything she might have to say.

"Let me finish. Our whole balance as a unit is thrown off without Rex here," Anakin continued, "But, we still have an important job to do. The 501st Legion can't stop fighting while we wait for Rex to return. It might be a while before he returns." Hearing those words made Ahsoka choke up. She blinked quickly, forcing back tears. "We still have a war to fight, and, unless we're all giving it 100 percent, people are going to die. Clone troopers. Civilians. Possibly us. We can't lose focus. And, more than that, Ahsoka, you nad I are a team." Anakin's voice took on a much firmer tone. "You _cannot_ contradict me in front of the men, like you just did. Or, make statements like you just did questioning our entire mission."

Now that her Master pointed it out, she realized she _was_ wrong. Ahsoka hung her head in shame, wishing she could go back in time and take her words back. "I'm sorry, Master. I was wrong. I see that now," Ahsoka said, clearly meaning the words.

"You are their _Commander_ , Ahsoka," Anakin continued, "with command comes great responsibility. You must give the men confidence, and not a sense that all is hopeless. You can't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. Next time, _think_ before you speak."

"Yes, Master," Ahsoka said, wishing she could make a hole in the ground and just disappear into it. It wouldn't be too hard, actually. This ground was already so soft because of all the mud...

Her Master just stood there staring at her. Ahsoka felt like the moment lasted forever. She wished he would just walk away, and leave her alone with her shame. Finally, Ahsoka broke the awful silence. "Master, can we just never speak of this again, please?"

"I guess that's up to you, Snips," Anakin said, "now let's get back out there, and motivate our troops. We have another long, tough day ahead of us."

Anakin turned his back on her and headed back toward their encampment. Ahsoka was incredibly relieved to be left alone for a moment. She wanted to just sink down into the mud, and wallow in self-loathing. Was Master Yoda's faith in her misplaced? Was she too young to be out here taking on this kind of responsibility? She looked back toward her Master and the men of the 501st. She had a duty toward these men. Rex's men. She would not leave them to fight in this battle alone or any battle. She would protect them to her dying breath, just as Rex would do.

_They're even younger than I am. I have to protect them._

Squaring her shoulders, she forcefully yanked her feet free of the mud and headed back toward the encampment.

She was a Jedi, and she had a duty to perform. She would not shirk her duties.

# # #

Rex felt himself being hauled out of the bacta tank.

_I'm getting out._

He could taste bacta dripping down the back of his throat. The sickly sweet tang would be tickling the back of his throat for days to come. But, it was a small price to pay for the accelerated healing of bacta. He could only hope it had healed his injuries this time as well as in the past.

Rex had been unconscious for most of his 14 days in the bio-bacta tank. But, at times, he'd felt himself drifting back up into awareness. It was an uncomfortable state, somewhere not quite between twilight sleep and full awareness. He could feel the odd sensation of being weightless and adrift in the bacta tank. He knew where he was, and why he was there. But, he had no fine motor control. Unable to open his eyes, or move his limbs, he was stuck in a helpless, unmoving state.

His thoughts would drift to the 501st. He didn't know where there were deployed right now or how their mission was progressing. The complete lack of information bothered him to no end. How were the troops adjusting to Appo? How was their mission progressing? Their next stop had been Kothlis and it was expected to be a difficult deployment. He should've been there for his troopers, and not stuck in a bacta tank. Maybe he wasn't careful enough out in the field and that's why he'd gotten shot by commando droids, _twice._ Was he careless? Was there something he could have done differently?

As he hung suspended in the tank for hours on end, he found it was the _not knowing_ what was going to the people he cared about that was the worst part. He thought about all of his brothers. Jesse. Echo. Fives. Kix. Coric. Hardcase. Denal. Cody.

Even though he tried to keep his thoughts about his commander on a professional level, he kept wondering who was watching out for her now that he was stuck here on Coruscant? All kinds of things could happen in 14 days. Commander Tano refused to wear any kind of body armor, and without it, it just took one stray blaster bolt...

Thoughts like that drove Rex crazy as he had floated for those many days in the dark, weightless limbo.

During those seemingly endless days in the bacta tank. Since he drifted in and out of consciousness, he couldn't track how many days had passed, or how much longer he had to go until he'd get out. Had it been two days? Eight days? 12 days?

He was very groggy and disoriented when he was hauled out of the tank. He was totally out of it. He could barely move. Since he didn't have much control over his limbs, he wasn't much help when they deposited him onto an anti-grav stretcher. He was rolled onto the stretcher in an ungainly heap and taken to a nearby refresher. The room was heated, which was a pleasant change from the chill of the bacta tank. Rex was rolled into a waiting tub of water. He kept his eyes closed. It was unpleasant to open them since he still had bacta stuck on him everywhere. But, he was also still exhausted and staying awake took a great deal of effort.

Rex's eyes popped open when he felt someone scrubbing him clean. He blinked through the goop stuck to his eyelids, trying to focus on who or what was next to him. By both sound and sight, his groggy brain finally realized he was being scrubbed by a chirpy R3 droid. The droid was fast and efficient, vigorously scrubbing Rex free of the bacta everywhere on his body. He didn't leave one part of Rex untouched.

"Ow! Easy there! Those are attached, you know!" Rex protested, putting a hand down to protect his more private areas. The R3 scrubbed on, regardless of Rex's protests. The droid finished his vigorous scrubbing and then rolled away. Rex sighed in relief, glad his parts had survived in one piece. He was finally free of the bacta.

# # #

The battle was not going well. After her near-disastrous conversation with her Master that morning, Ahsoka was trying to be a model Jedi. She kept trying to be upbeat and positive around the troops, making up for her careless comments earlier. It was exhausting being this cheerful, but Ahsoka kept at it, while she redoubled her efforts to deflect every shot she could. Still, there was no denying it, they were seriously outgunned. She still wondered if this planet was worth all this trouble. Her Master charged forward and Ahsoka charged after him. She was trying to do her duty as a padawan and cover her Master's back at all times. But, covering Anakin Skywalker's back was a very daunting task. At the same, Ahsoka was also trying to watch out for Rex's men. She needed to watch over them extra carefully and return them back to Rex in the same condition as he'd left them. She kept racing back, trying to protect the troopers and then racing back up to her Master to cover his back. The pace she was setting for herself was absolutely exhausting. The Jedi Council suspected the Trade Council had yet another new ally somewhere here in the mid-Rim. However, as of yet, they could not figure out who it was. The Separatists were well supplied on troops and munitions. The Republic supply lines were much more limited. They seemed to be running short of everything as the battle waged on- munitions, medicine, food, and, clones. Ahsoka cringed, and recoiled, every time she saw another clone go down. She took each loss personally now.

She watched another 501st trooper go down. Was that Brass? Or, Frog?

"Medic!"

The clones kept falling around her. She couldn't move fast enough to save them. There was so much smoke in the air she couldn't tell anymore which clones had fallen, and somehow that made it worse. They were falling and she didn't even know who they were anymore.

 _I'm so sorry, Rex,_ she cried out in agony in her mind. _I've failed you_.

# # #

Rex sat in the examination room, waiting for either a doctor or a med droid to come in. He shivered in his boxers as he waited. His teeth began to chatter. He tried to clamp them together, but despite his best efforts, they chattered anyway.

He'd resisted looking at his knee, at first, worried about what he'd see, but now he decided to take a look.

_It definitely looks better than it did before. Bacta does some amazing things..._

_Still, though..._

The bacta had regenerated tissue, muscle and skin all around his injured knee. But, there were definitely still parts missing. Around the newly healed parts, Rex's knee was still misshapen and sunken in.

_Maybe it looks worse than it is. With a bit more time, those other parts will...regenerate on their own, maybe?_

Rex wondered if he'd gotten any control or movement back into his leg again. He didn't care if his knee looked awful. He just wanted to be able to walk on it again.

_Come on, leg, move._

He sent the signal with his brain, but his leg didn't get the message.

Rex stared at his leg, his full concentration centered on contracting the quadricep muscle and getting some movement out of his knee.

_OK, forget about that. How about something really basic for starters. Maybe just a little wiggle of a toe or something?_

Rex stared at his foot, willing one of his toes to move. Sweat started to break out on his brow. The toes on his bare feet remained stubbornly still.

Rex was still staring fixedly at his toes when a natborn doctor walked in. His entrance startled Rex. It was a different natborn from the one Rex had seen before. The doctor gave him an odd look, but didn't say anything. He confirmed Rex's CT number and then immediately got down to business. He pulled down a bright overhead light and began intensely studying Rex's knee. He paused, pulled up records on his datapad, and then studied Rex's knee again. He began frowning and shaking his head. Rex felt his stomach twist into knots.

The doctor pulled a sharp metal probe out of a nearby drawer. Rex saw him poke his foot with the probe, but he felt nothing.

"Did you feel that?" the doctor prompted.

"No," Rex replied, getting a sinking feel of dread.

The doctor probed another area of Rex's foot, "And, here?"

Rex shook his head, struggling to remain calm. Visions of his entire military career- his future, his friends, his life - were crying out to him, threatening to obscure his vision in a hazy red curtain. Rex realized he was not breathing normally.

The doctor stopped."CT-7567, do you need a sedative?"

"What? No, continue," Rex said, trying to even out his breathing. There had to be some kind of mistake, right? Some logical explanation for why he couldn't feel anything? The doctor resumed his examination, continuing to prod various places all over the bottom and top of Rex's foot with the same result.

"And, here?" the doctor asked, probing Rex's shin. Rex continued to shake his head. On and on it went, all the way up his leg, until the doctor reached Rex's knee. Rex braced himself for pain.

The doctor prodded Rex's knee. Rex stared down, watching the doctor's every move. There was no pain.

_Why don't I feel anything?_

The doctor probed Rex's knee again, this time with more pressure. Rex shook his head.

"You have no sensation?" the doctor questioned, probing Rex's knee in another spot.

Rex's heart sank. "No."

The doctor tried a third spot, pressing down with more force.

Rex shook his head. "Sir, may I try?" He put his hand out for the probe.

The doctor hesitated, obviously, Rex was asking to do something out of the ordinary. But, after a moment, he nodded and handed it over.

Rex began probing his scarred, misshapen knee. He might as well have been poking someone else's leg. He couldn't feel any of it. He handed the probe back to the doctor, feeling his heart sink to the floor. Rex saw his plans to return to _the Resolute_ and the 501st all evaporate away.

The doctor continued his examination. Rex sat completely silent as the doctor finished his exam, trying to emotionally detach himself from the situation like he did after a battle when he lost too many brothers.

"Well," the doctor said, "normally, I would declare this a lost cause right here and now. But, you are a Captain and that does mean the Republic has invested quite a bit in your training. So, I'm going to schedule you for a series of high-res nerve tissue scans today. I need to see how extensive this nerve damage is. The bacta was able to reverse some of the damage, but, it simply couldn't rewire all those complex nerve endings. The way things stand now, none of those signals are getting through at all. Tissue regenerated, but there doesn't seem to be a viable nerve pathway for any of that new tissue." He made a few notes on his datapad. "A technician will come by to take you for your scans." He turned to leave.

"Wait!" Rex said. "What...if..." he couldn't believe he was even making this request as he'd been so against it before. "... what if we take off my leg?" He made a vague gesture at his leg. "Replace it?"

The doctor shook his head. "I'm not sure you're even a viable candidate for limb replacement. Not with your nerve damage. However, Captain, I am willing to give you a few more days at this facility. Maybe even up to a week. Let's run the scans, see for sure how extensive all this nerve damage is. See if anything changes."

"What can change in a week?" Rex asked, feeling a slight glimmer of hope.

"Well, probably nothing," the doctor said, not mincing words. "But," he tapped a few more on his datapad, "I'll even order some physical therapy for you. Maybe you'll get some nerve feeling back. It has happened from time to time. Now, no more questions. I have other things to do." He turned and left the room.

After the doctor left, Rex just sat there, staring down at his misshapen limb.

He mentally ran through everything he'd been told. _So, if I don't get nerve feeling back in one week or less, then what happens to me?_

Rex wasn't sure. But, he did know that the Republic didn't keep around clones who couldn't fight anymore. Rex had never seen any. You were either fighting, preparing to fight, recovering from fighting, or dead. There was no retirement plan for permanently injured clones.

Rex ran a hand through his hair. His normally close-cropped hair had grown out during his two weeks floating in the bacta tank. His longer hair felt strange and unfamiliar under his fingertips. Everything about his life now felt that way.

 _Another week in Coruscant._ _I just want to get back where I belong. Back to the 501st._

# # #

Ahsoka moved about in the RIMSU, assisting the clone medics in any way she could. She was supposed to be resting, but she just couldn't sleep. It was easier to keep moving. Maybe by helping out in the mobile surgical unit she could atone for not being able to save all of the troopers.

"Hey, Van," she said, kneeling down by the side of an injured clone trooper. She recognized him instantly by the distinctive stripes cut into his buzz cut.

"Commander," he whispered, his voice laced with pain from a blaster wound to the ab. He reached out a hand and she held it tight. He sucked in a dragging breath and then another and then stopped breathing. She felt his life force pass on. She sank her head down against his cot and wept.

# # #

The days crawled by with agonizing slowness for Rex. At first, he watched the HoloNews Net, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 501st, but the news was so sensationalized that he couldn't get any useful information out of it. He just ended up getting more and more annoyed as he listened. The news and the reality of the war didn't have much in common.

Rex started physical therapy the same day he'd had the high res scans and had been assigned crutches so he could at least move around independently. This was a huge improvement over being stuck in a bunk. He convinced Beat, the vod who worked in the physical therapy area to let him stay longer than the two hours he'd been assigned each day. He started using the area so he could work out. He focused on working out his upper body, but also did as much lower body workouts as he could, without his injured leg getting in the way. He needed to get back to fighting form. He refused to accept he was done.

He was working out in the physical therapy room when Rusty tracked him down one afternoon.

"Hi Captain," Rusty said beaming, and carrying a small plastisack. "I'm on break. I brought tarts."

"You can't eat in here," Beat said, shaking his head. "Come on, Rusty, you should know the rules by now."

"I brought two," Rusty said, giving the bag a tempting shake. "I'll give you mine. They're blumfruit."

Beat tossed a nearby towel on top of the security cam. "Fine. Give it over. But, don't make a habit of breaking the rules in here."

Rusty opened the sack and handed one tart to Beat and the other to Rex. Beat nodded and went back to working with a clone with a severe shoulder injury.

Rex hadn't seen the med tech since the day he was admitted, but there was definitely something different about him. A new energy and a new confidence. "I sense this is more than just a social call," Rex said, ripping his tart evenly in half and offering it up to Rusty. To his surprise, the med tech refused. So, Rex reached around him and handed the half off to the clone with the shoulder injury. His eyes widened in surprise and he quickly nodded his thanks as he accepted the unexpected treat.

"I have news," Rusty said, once Rex's attention was fully on him once more.

Rex took a large bite of the blumfruit tart and motioned for Rusty to go on.

"I applied for a transfer to the 501st. To be a combat medic," Rusty said proudly.

Rex's eyes widened. "That's excellent! Did it go through?"

Rusty shook his head. "No, it was denied. _But_ , there was an opening in the 104th for a junior combat medic. I leave tomorrow. I'm finally going to get to use my training for something other than just unloading LAATs and pushing grav-stretchers through the hallways here."

"You're joining the Wolfpack," Rex said, clapping the med tech on the shoulder. "Well done, Rusty."

Rusty beamed. "I wouldn't have done if I hadn't met you, Captain. Hearing your stories inspired me to want something more."

"I told you I was pushed off a roof," Rex teased. "That's hardly inspiring."

Rusty stood up straight and tall. "I'm finally going to do what I was meant to do. I'm headed to combat." He checked his chrono. "I have to go. I just wanted to say goodbye." He saluted and left the room.

Rex exchanged a glance with Beat and caught the quick look of envy the trooper gave to Rusty before he schooled his features into a neutral expression again. He reached up and tugged the towel off the security holo.

"Go on, Captain, clear out now," Beat said, "you've spent enough time here today."

# # #

Rex sat on his bunk in the large room assigned to him and a dozen other clones recovering from battle injuries. He studied his armor, arranged in an orderly pile. He'd made a habit of cleaning his weaponry and armor each day since he'd arrived. His armor had taken such a beating over the past fourteen months of fighting. Rex wished he had some blue paint, so he could restripe his kit. Most of the blue paint was battered and scratched and one of the eyes was missing a big chunk of paint.

_Battered, scratched and missing a chunk, just like me._

Cody had arranged for his gear bag to be sent with him. His shattered amor pieces weren't in there, since he'd passed those on to General Kenobi for study. But, there were new pieces in there, already freshly painted and ready to wear. And on the inside of each of the two new armor pieces were scrawled signatures and numbers of his brothers, along with a few crude drawings he was sure came from Fives. These new armor pieces would become a part of him, just as his brothers were a part of him. 

# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a comic strip illustrating a portion of this chapter created by a reader of this story, Toxo, on DeviantArt. https://www.deviantart.com/toxo/art/Ahsoka-s-cursing-song-519747057
> 
> The mobile clone field hospital I am referring to in this chapter is based upon a sketch Dave Filoni showed at Celebration Anaheim 2015. It is sketch # 17.  
> https://www.starwars.com/news/swca-the-untold-clone-wars-panel-liveblog
> 
> Woot! After two cups of coffee, I finally remember what these mobile field hospitals are called. RIMSUs! https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Republic_Mobile_Surgical_Unit/Legends
> 
> The smell on Kothlis comes from the broad fungus planets that grow in the light of the planet's reddish star. https://star-wars-legends.fandom.com/wiki/Photosynthesis
> 
> Ahsoka is struggling to find a balance between her chaotic emotions and being a calm and caring leader. She doesn't always succeed. That battle is very much on display in this chapter. This story takes place during Year 2 of the Clone Wars when Ahsoka's character is still undergoing tremendous growth. She is a teenager who has been sent to war and she makes mistakes.


	27. To Kamino Never Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex is given a one-way ticket to Kamino.

Five days later, Rex was re-evaluated by the same natborn doctor he'd seen in the beginning. 

"CT-5767, your scans are not looking good.Too bad, too. You're an interesting case, being the first one hit with this new weapon. Would have been nice to make a success story out of you. Would have looked good in my career file." He sighed regretfully. "Sadly, it is not to be. Doesn't look like you are salvageable. But, tell you what, I'll still do a physical exam, just to be sure, alright?" He voiced the question like he was doing Rex a huge favor like he wasn't holding his life in his hands.

He poked and prodded at Rex's misshapen knee. Rex considered lying and saying he could feel all of his poking about, but it wouldn't do much good. He had no feeling in the limb. He'd known he was done for before he even headed in for the exam. 

"I'll put you in for transfer then to Kamino." There were more words spoken, but darkness swam in front of Rex's vision. He couldn't focus. He stared blankly at the man. The doctor left the exam room without sparing Rex another glance.

# # #

He was loaded onto a crowded transport shuttle for Kamino two days later.

He had not spoken to anyone since he had begun the journey.

But, that was OK, no one else on board felt like talking either.

He'd been given a choice of making the journey in his armor or the loose fighting medbay garb he'd been wearing for the past week. He immediately suited into as much of his armor as he could get on, minus the thigh and shin piece he couldn't manage with his bandaged and braced leg. From what he knew about reconditioning, their armor would be recycled on the other end.

The journey was dreadfully boring. Rex counted the troopers onboard. 96 troopers had chosen to wear at least some part of their armor. Four were lying in bio-beds and were wearing the standard medbay garb. With no chatter amongst the brothers, it was like traveling on a ghost ship. He was ready for this journey to end. Six months from now, would anybody still remember that he'd ever existed? Rex sighed and took of his helmet, staring down at it. He ran his thumb along the small metal plate engraved on the inside of the helmet, identifying it as belonging to him.

_7567_

It would all be over soon.

CT-7567 would be another number among millions of numbers, recycled into the system by the Kaminoans. Just like his armor and weapons. Everyone onboard the ship would be reabsorbed back into the system as if they'd never existed at all.

Rex set his helmet down by his feet and buried his head in his hands. He tried not to think of the 501st or the Jedi padawan who'd saved his life on TriLuna.

The war was over for him.

# # #

Ahsoka growled in frustration. She could not settle down enough to slip into a state of meditation.

Meditation was challenging enough for Ahsoka on an ordinary day. Coming straight off several weeks stressful weeks on the battlefield, -several, _frustrating_ weeks - Ahsoka was finding it impossible to find her 'calm center.' She knew she had a calm center somewhere inside herself. But, she'd been feeling so _off-centered_ for the past couple of weeks, that she and her 'calm center' seemed at war with each other.

"Oh, phwoar! Calm!" she muttered angrily out loud to herself. "Come on... calm! Shabla, borkin', piffgotty, prugnificatin', skroggin' calm!" She emitted one last angry growl. "Blast!" she uttered.

_OK, OK, a quick shower, and then I'll try this blinking meditation again._

Ahsoka hurriedly peeled off her clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor. As she scrubbed in the shower, she finally felt herself relaxing. But, she still couldn't figure out what it was the Force was trying to tell her.

# ##

Rex stared out the viewport.

_This doesn't feel right. None of this seems right._

He stared around at his shipmates- a ship full of broken men. It was still unnaturally quiet. Not a word had been spoken since they left Coruscant. The only sounds came from the rattling of the engines of the worn-out ship and its' pilot, an R-4 unit. Rex could see it clearly from where he was sitting. The R-4 unit had seen better days- it was badly dented, and looked like something unpleasant had been spilled on it. The astromech was noisy, like all of its kind, but the beeps and bleeps were erratic and off-pitch. It was a far cry from Skywalker's astromech, which he fussed over endlessly.

General Skywalker was strange sometimes. Alright, much of the time, but he was a good General.

Krek. Rex had liked working with him. I should be back with Skywalker and the 501st. Not here.

Rex remembered how blackness swam in front of his vision as the doctor spoke of Rex's "new orders." He'd gone on to quickly explain Rex had just been officially 'decommissioned.' He was no longer Captain of Torrent Squadron. No longer a member of the 501st Legion. No longer a clone trooper. No longer a member of the Republic Army. In a calm, polite voice, the doctor explained to Rex that he would be sent on the next transport back to Kamino with other clones under 'similar circumstances.' The way the doctor said it made it sound like it was all so routine, and acceptable.

_# # #_

Ahsoka hurriedly finished her shower and threw on the first clean tunic and pants she could find.

She closed her eyes, breathing deeply, focusing intently on relaxing into the Force. Ahsoka's metabolism was well suited to high energy and constant movement. Meditation seemed to run counter to her very nature. Ahsoka took long, deep, calming breaths, and sank deeper and deeper into a state of relaxation. She felt her mind fall into a limbic state partway between consciousness and dreaming. The Force took control as she relaxed into her meditative trance. As Ahsoka sank deeper and deeper into her meditation, she felt herself fall into a Force-mediated vision.

Ahsoka was on a journey. She left her physical body behind on _the Resolute,_ passing through the bulkhead, and out into space. She moved away from the ship, picking up speed, traveling faster and faster. She passed many planets, some familiar, many that were not. She sensed that she was traveling all the way to the other side of the galaxy. Her speed began to slow down, and she realized that she was approaching her destination.

It was a generic transport ship, difficult to tell who or what might be on board. The ship had minimal weaponry.

 _The pirates would love to go after a ship like this,_ Ahsoka thought, as she pondered the vessel.

_Unknown cargo, easy prey. Whoever owns this vessel is either a fool or must not value their cargo very highly._

The ship had definitely seen better days. Ahsoka was surprised it could still fly.

Why was the Force showing her this rusted bucket of bolts? Curious, she moved closer and peered inside the portholes. She gasped with surprise.

As Ahsoka peered in through window after window, she identified a vast assortment of troopers from divisions throughout the GAR. Based upon their armor, Ahsoka identified Galactic Marines, members of the Muunilinist 10, troopers from the 41st Elite Corps, 55th Mechanized Brigade, 85th Infantry Brigade, 7th Sky Corps, 182nd Legion, and even Homeworld Security Command. Ahsoka was overwhelmed with the emotions pouring out from these men. Despair. Defeat. Resignation. These men all felt their lives were over. The men all showed recent signs of battlefield injuries as well. Ahsoka kept searching every window, with a sense of dread and anticipation. She didn't know where these injured troopers were headed, but judging by their emotional state, it was very bad. As she searched the windows, she was afraid of what she would see next.

As she neared the end of the ship, she saw him. Staring out the viewport, it was _Rex_. He had his helmet off, and he looked like he was lost deep in despair. Ahsoka felt her whole body clench in reaction to seeing Rex again. How she had missed seeing him.

"Rex!" she called out, but no sound came out of her mouth.

He couldn't see her. Ahsoka could sense his emotional state. He was devastated. Broken, like the others on the ship. What had happened to him?

The vision started to fade and she was pulled away from the ship.

"No, no, no, Rex!"

Ahsoka kept stretching her arms toward the direction where she'd last seen the ship, but by now she was so far away it was as if the ship had never existed.

It felt like Rex was disappearing from her life, never to return.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in her quarters. She was so exhausted she could barely move. She steadied her breathing, and drew strength from the Force so that she could stand up. She looked at her chrono: 5:14 AM. It was morning already. Ahsoka grabbed her comlink. She had to talk to Cody- _now._

# # #

Two hours, and many arguments later, Cody and Ahsoka had finally made it past a small army of comm droids at ArmyMed. "Press 1 if you speak Galactic Basic. Press 2 if you speak Durese. Press 3 if you speak Ryl. Press 4 if you speak Huttese, Press 5 if you speak Rodese. Press 6 if you speak Twi'lek. Press 7 if you speak Brothese. Press 8 if you Hapan. Press 9 if you speak Shriiwook..."

They'd been placed on-hold so many times that Cody looked like he was about to take his DC-15s to the com unit. Ahsoka considered sending calming Force energies to the clone commander, but she wasn't much calmer herself. Plus, she didn't think the effort would be appreciated. Finally, they found themselves in an actual face-to-face conversation with someone at ArmyMed who could actually help them.

"Doctor Anhalt. Sorry to keep you waiting. I understand you're inquiring about unit CT-7567?"

Cody and Ahsoka exchanged a quick glance.

Ahsoka made a subtle hand gesture, indicating she would handle it. "Yes, we're inquiring about _Captain Rex_."

"Ah yes, I do remember the Captain." The doctor glanced down at his datapad. "Interesting case. Hit with a clone shredder. _Very_ unusual. Wish we could have kept him here longer for study. But, rules are rules. You received his transfer flimsiwork, I assume?"

Ahsoka shook her head. "No. What transfer paperwork?"

The doctor frowned and glanced down at his datapad again. "We sent everything on to you in _triplicate._ You should have received it all by now."

"Received what?" demanded Cody, losing patience with the conversation.

Ahsoka put up a hand to Cody indicating patience. "We've been in the far Outer Rim, doctor. Communications are sketchy and intermittent at best. Received what, exactly?"

The doctor continued to read off his datapad, looking relieved and satisfied now that he was sure all the forms had been filled out properly, "Yes, yes, Captain Rex was transferred out of this facility several days ago. Sent out on the next available transport."

"Doctor, could you start again?" Obi-Wan requested as he walked into the room with Anakin. Obi-Wan assumed his typical stance, with his legs spread a comfortable distance apart, his arms folded, and one hand thoughtfully stroking his chin as he listened. Standing right next to him, Anakin mimicked his Jedi standing pose, minus the chin-stroking. Without a proper beard, all that contemplative chin-stroking just wasn't the same.

"Hello, an honor to be speaking with two honorable, esteemed Master Jedi," the doctor said, looking at Obi-Wan and Anakin with interest.

_Oh, please, Ahsoka thought, twisting her face with displeasure. You didn't do any of that honorable, esteemed, blah, blah, blah Jedi stuff with me._

The doctor sat up in his chair a little straighter, stopped staring at his datapad, and gave his full attention to Obi-Wan and Anakin. He was immediately direct and to the point. "Unit 7567 is no longer at this facility. He has been de-commissioned from the GAR due to the nature of his injuries."

Ahsoka felt her Master's emotions flare-up. "What?" Anakin asked, "where is he? Why wasn't I notified?"

The doctor was taken aback at the strong reaction he was receiving. "You were sent a form. This should not be a surprise."

Anakin took a threatening step toward the holocam and glowered right into it. The doctor actually backed up, even though he was back on Coruscant.

"We were in the mid Rim fighting the _war,_ " Anakin said, his teeth clenched and his voice low. "We could not receive routine communiques. The Seppies jam our communications, including all of your _forms_."

"Uh, I see," the doctor said, "yes, yes, a most unfortunate circumstance." The doctor glanced back at the Jedi meekly and looked as if he were trying to hide behind his datapad.

Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin's shoulder, and gently but firmly pulled him back from his threatening pose, "Doctor, can you please clarify? Where is Captain Rex now?"

"Your Captain has been _de-commissioned_ ," the doctor said, sounding exasperated as if he was wondering why none of them understood what was to him a routine procedure.

Ahsoka felt both a wave of dizziness and a surge of adrenaline at the same time. Her body didn't know if it wanted to fight or pass out, as more and more of her vision began to make sense.

"You sent him to Kamino?" Cody's voice was deadly calm, but there was something behind it that sent chills down Ahsoka's spine. What was so bad about Kamino? It was the home planet of the clones.

"Yes, yes, Kamino," the doctor said quickly.

Cody's fists clenched and unclenched next to her and he went silent.

"Shame about your Captain. As I said, I would have liked to have studied him more. If you have no more questions for me, I have work to do." Without waiting for a response, the doctor cut the connection.

Without waiting to be dismissed, Cody spun on his heel and left the room. Ahsoka could _feel_ his anger. Obi-Wan must have felt it, as well, because Ahsoka saw his head snap over to look with concern at the departing back of his clone commander.

# # #

Obi-Wan found Cody out in the hallway. Cody was leaning against the wall, shoulders slumped, head hung down.

The Jedi Master stepped in front of him and put a bracing hand on his spaulder. "What's going on? What does 'reconditioning' mean?"

Cody was about to answer when the door opened and Ahsoka and Anakin came out into the hallway.

"There you are!" Anakin said, clearly agitated, "what's going on?"

Obi-Wan shot Anakin a look of annoyance, "Calm down, Anakin. Let's give the commander some breathing room."

Ahsoka went over to Cody and leaned up against the wall next to him. "Cody, why was Rex sent back to Kamino?"

Cody hung his head down for a moment, obviously reluctant to speak. Obi-Wan gripped his shoulder supportively.

Cody took a deep breath, and explained, "The Kaminoans have zero tolerance for defective clones." Cody paused. He stood up a little straighter and stared at a point on the opposite wall. "Reconditioning means death by legal injection." His voice was low and emotionless. "It happens to all clones who are deemed worthless or different or no longer have value."

Ahsoka staggered as her Force vision snapped into place. She felt the room spinning wildly around her. Cody caught her, and held her in his arms for a moment, before setting her back on her feet. Ahsoka remembered Rex catching her like that once when she was wounded. He'd carried her all the way to the RIMSU at a fast run, cradling her tightly to his chest. It had felt so different when it was Rex's arms she was filling into. Cody held her for a moment, then set her back on her feet again. He kept one steadying hand gripped on her forearm.

"Are you alright, Commander?" Cody asked. His voice was so different from Rex. Cody was kind and caring, in his own way, yet he presented very differently in the Force from Rex.

Ahsoka nodded, and Cody released his grip on her arm.

While Cody was seeing to Ahsoka, Obi-Wan was dealing with Anakin. When Anakin heard the words 'death by lethal injection,' his whole Force aura changed into something dark and ugly.

"They can't do this!" Anakin said, with an angry hiss.

"Calm down, Anakin," Obi-Wan said.

Ahsoka looked over and saw Obi-Wan communicating to Anakin through their Master-Padawan bond. Even though Anakin was a Knight now, the bond would always remain between them. Ahsoka could sense Anakin's fiery rage calming down. The two of them, Obi-Wan and Anakin, just stood there, frozen, communicating silently.

She nodded toward Cody, and they headed back onto the bridge. It was still early, and there was minimal bridge crew working. Admiral Yularen was still at the mess, along with much of the rest of the ship. Ahsoka tugged Cody over to the comm station. "We need to get in touch with that ship."

"I'm on it," Cody said, ousting the comms officer, and sliding into the communications station.

She stood behind him, watching as he tried, again and again, to get in touch with the ship. But, even as they failed to get through, she had this horrible feeling that Rex was gone.


	28. Troopers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex loses all hope until he rediscovers himself again.

Rex stared out the viewport window. He'd fallen asleep for a while and slept fitfully. Now, he was staring out into space, a blaster in each hand. The weight of the blasters felt comfortable and soothing. Rex twirled his blasters restlessly, spinning between his thumb, forefinger, and palm, again and again.

Rex's restless motions caught the curious eye of the trooper seated directly across from him. The trooper's upper body posture suggested he had a shoulder injury, and the careful way he was sitting suggested a damaged hip. A standard-issue metallic GAR cane was tucked up neatly against the seat, out of the way, but there in case it was needed. His eyes flickered to Rex and caught his gaze. But, after a moment he looked away and went back to just moodily staring around with the same disinterested stare that every clone on the ship seemed to have adopted.

Rex scowled, remembering a time when just his entering the room was enough to bring every clone present to attention.

_Kriff. It wasn't that long ago._

Rex made an exasperated noise of frustration in the back of his throat, gaining him the attention once again of the trooper. The clone's armor identified him as being an ARC. But, even without the distinctive armor, pauldron and kama, Rex could have picked him out as an ARC just by his attitude. Even though he had his helmet on, the look he was giving Rex clearly said: 'What's your problem?'

Rex's glared back at him, his look one of direct challenge. _Just give me one reason to take you on_... Rex holstered his blasters and began curling and uncurling his fists, as he glared across at the trooper.

The trooper sized Rex up, taking in his rank, his pauldron, and kama, and the 501st blue striping running down the sides. He appeared to be deciding if Rex was worth the trouble of a confrontation. He completely sized up the 501st Captain and stopped when he took in his distinctive helmet down by his feet, realizing exactly who he was. He shook his head, backing down from the confrontation. But, not before he muttered several cutting insults in Mando'a under his breath. 

Rex's eyes narrowed and he briefly considered teaching the obnoxious di'kut some manners. He had so much pent-up frustration that punching someone, anyone, would do him a lot of good right now. But, the tactical part of him immediately realized he'd need to _hop_ across the aisle to get at the ARC or use his crutches to get at him. And, suddenly the image of having to _crutch_ over to beat somehow who walked with a cane seemed like not one of his prouder moments.

He leaned his head forward into his hands.

_Fierfek! When are we going to get there! I can't take much more of this..._

Rex twisted his head and stared out the viewport. His hands went back to his belt, and without thinking, he drew his blasters again and began spinning them. He thought he might want to start shooting something soon. This was not good...

He stared out at the stars, endlessly spinning his blasters. His body felt weird as pent up energy coursed through him. Normally, on the _Resolute_ , they passed the time on long space voyages doing endlessly training drills and working their bodies into exhaustion. They never sat around like this, just staring at each other... and with good reason. Clone bodies were not built to sit idle.

_Whoa! What was that?_

A surge of adrenaline caused Rex to sit up a little straighter in his seat and he holstered his blasters without even having to think about it. He was sure he'd seen a glint of silver flash by behind the ship- something that looked out of place. He craned his neck back, staring behind him. The troopers behind him looked at him. Rex ignored them, staring out the viewport windows behind him.

"You see that?" Rex asked quietly.

The troopers both at Rex like he might be losing it.

 _Maybe I am,_ Rex thought. He emitted a snort of frustration as he turned back toward his seat. The snort came out a bit louder than Rex had intended. It sounded especially loud in the unnatural silence of the gloomy ship. This time, two brothers sitting ahead of Rex both turned around to look at him.

They were commandos, wearing portions, but not all, of their distinctive commando gear. Even without their full kit on, Rex was still able to pick out their markings as being from Alpha Squad. When they'd turned to look at him, they'd turned in perfect unison. They had a vibe about them that spoke of having worked together for a long time. They both gave him a long, hard look, sizing him up. Rex met their gazes evenly.

For a moment, Rex envied them their solidarity. He thought of how comforting it would be to have someone from the 501st with him right now. But, he instantly realized what a selfish wish that was, considering the endpoint of this particular journey.

In the 'old days,' before Rex had been decommissioned, (that would be last week, Rex reflected, with another snort), he would have greeted two new brothers with a smile, or a handshake, or an acknowledging nod. But, the circumstances had created a reality that was so opposite to the spirit of brotherhood. Rex simply glared at the unfamiliar brothers until they turned around again.

Rex shook his head.

_OK, OK, I probably didn't need to do that. I'm behaving like a total bantha's backside._

He was not at his best right now. Fierfek. This wasn't who he was. Gah. He didn't even know who he was anymore. He'd been stripped of his identity and everything that meant something to him.

The two commandos exchanged a look back and forth once again, some silent message passing between them before they both settled back into their seats ignoring Rex. There were so many troopers he was close to back on the _Resolute_ with whom he could communicate like that. Once again, this whole sense of this journey being _wrong_ settled over him. He belonged there, back on _the Resolute._ Why had he been sent here? He tried not to let his anger overwhelm him, but the sense of despair and betrayal was almost more than he could take.

Rex tried to find a comfortable position in his seat. He felt so uncomfortable in his own skin at the moment. _OK, OK, I need to find my 'calm center,'_ as Ahsoka would call it. He'd never tried meditation. Ahsoka said she was going to teach him, but they never had the chance. In lieu of meditation, he began twirling his blasters again. The rhythmic motion was as close to self-soothing as he could get at the moment.

Rex sighed heavily. They never had the chance to do a _lot_ of things. Although, he had kissed Ahsoka. Er, the commander. Fierfek! Rex's hand slipped and he almost dropped one of his blasters. It clicked across from his hand armor, as he quickly caught it again. He immediately forced his mind away from Ahsoka, before he shot his blaster off. He holstered his blasters again.

The ARC across the aisle looked over at him again. Rex flipped him a very unbrotherly hand gesture. The clone actually laughed quietly, his shoulders shaking. Then, he groaned, gripping his injured shoulder.

Without even thinking, Rex signed to him like he would one of his troopers asking if he was OK.

The brother immediately signed back he was 5-5. Everything is well and good. Then, he snorted under his breath and grumbled: "Who I am kidding? I'm not fine. We're fekked."

And, somehow, in that moment, he and Rex reached a truce. They gazed at each other for a long moment and the ARC leaned toward Rex extending an arm in greeting.

"Dart," he said, quietly.

"Rex."

They clasped arms briefly, in the Mando'a way, as several other brothers turned their heads curiously to watch them. Then, the moment ended, as quickly as it had begun. Both of them went back to staring at the seatback in front of them. What kind of small talk could you possibly make do you make anyway when you're headed back to your decanting place to be euthanized?

 _I was created to be a soldier_ , Rex thought, his hands resting on the well-worn handles of his blasters. Rex watched the stars speed by, drawing him ever closer and closer to Kamino. He still had no idea what he was going to do. But, he'd spent his whole life being trained to fight. And, the more he thought about where he was headed, the less sense it made. He even began to question all the little details.

_What's going to happen to my blasters when I get to Kamino? I'm supposed to 'turn in' my gear. Every shinie gets a brand new set of gear. So, does that mean my gear is just going to be melted down to slag? What about my armor? When a brother dies, a piece of his armor is supposed to be passed on to someone in his unit. Are they just going to melt down my armor? Nothing left of me, at all? No evidence that I ever existed at all? Is that why we're supposed to turn our gear in? So, there is no evidence that we ever existed at all?_

Rex clearly remembered his mindset when he was still in-training at Kamino. He was naive, eager, and followed orders precisely. Now, two years into the war, and he felt like he'd age twenty years.

This transport was so much slower than a Jedi cruiser. They'd been traveling a full day already and still had another twelve hours until they reached Kamino. He was exhausted but knew he was too keyed up to sleep. He looked around the ship, taking a good hard look at the other troopers on board. Setting aside the fact that all of the clones were sporting various injuries, the clones aboard the ship represented a cross-section of every division in the military. If they weren't on a doomed ship, it would be a very impressive collection of GAR troopers.

Rex looked around again, studying his fellow shipmates with interest once again. Many of them were dozing off, but some were restlessly shifting about, just as he was. Too keyed up to sit a minute longer, he decided to see if the rust bucket they were traveling on had a galley. Maybe the GAR had been merciful enough to send them off with a few bottles of water and a couple of ration cubes.

Rex stepped out into the aisle and had just taken his first step when he found himself hit with a wave of dizziness.

"Shab," he muttered, grabbing onto the seat directly in front of him, clutching it tightly, trying not to fall.

One of the commandos sitting in front of him stepped out into the aisle and gripped Rex's arm.

"You, OK?" his eyes slid over, taking in Rex's rank, "Captain?"

"Uh, yeah," Rex muttered, "I think so," although he was likely unconvincing since he wavered on his feet. It had been a while since he had stood up or had any sort of food or water.

The clone looked over at his companion, who slipped out into the aisle, and gripped Rex's other arm, steadying him.

"Thanks," Rex said, taking a deep, steadying breath, and looking at the commandos on either side of him.

The older of the two commandos, who already had some grey on his temples, asked, "Where you headed?"

"Galley," with a nod toward the general direction where he thought the galley might be. He hadn't been there yet, but he was somewhat familiar with this older style of transport. "Dizzy. Need some water. Maybe a ration bar, I think."

The older clone nodded his head toward the galley to indicate the two of them would walk Rex there. Their company was welcome. Rex hadn't realized until that moment how lonely he'd become during his time at ArmyMed. Other than his brief interactions with Bean and Rusty, it had been the most alone he'd felt since he'd been decanted. He took a moment to study the two commandos. Their tough Keltarn armor showed a lot of signs of recent burn scoring and they both moved with an un-clone like stiffness to their movements.

They entered the galley. His companions quietly went through the cabinets and located a stash of ration bars. They each took one and tossed one to Rex.

"You want help getting back to your seat?"

Rex shook his head. "I might hang out here for a bit. Thanks."

As quietly as they'd appeared, his two companions disappeared and returned to their seats. Another clone, who was missing a hand, was also in the galley getting water. He looked at Rex and held out a bottle of water. Rex took the bottle and gave a small nod of thanks. It was all the communications he could muster.

"I think they drugged us before we left," the one-handed clone said, shuffling his feet and not quite making eye-contact with Rex. "My mouth tastes like cotton, and the whole beginning part of this journey is sort of a blur to me."

Ah, that does make sense. Rex had been given several injections before he left. He hadn't asked any questions because it wasn't like he had any choices in the matter anyway.

"I'm no medic but I... think hydrating probably will help," the one-handed clone said, handing him a second bottle of water.

"Probably a good idea. Thanks," Rex muttered, still not up to a lengthy conversation.

Maybe he was still somewhat drugged. That would explain the dizziness. He also knew he'd never felt a sense of utter hopelessness like this before. He just didn't want to talk.

The other clone nodded and disappeared back out of the galley, leaving Rex alone again. Rex stared out the wide viewport window of the galley. They were creeping ever closer to Kamino.

Maybe he should care and make peace with his fate. But, all he felt was numb.

Rex finished the bottle of water and tossed it into the reclamation bin. He shook his head. He was a total dikut. He was about to be put to death and he was still concerned about reclaiming resources.

He was just about to take a bite of his rations bar when a movement outside the wide viewport window above the galley caught his eye.

"Fierfek!" He stared at the heavily armored craft streaking toward them. The ship had no markings, but it was modified with extra weapons, extra boarding ramps, and coming upon them very fast. Rex observed the ship for another moment, his adrenaline rising, the way it did in that deathly moment of silence right before a battle started. They had a much more immediate problem than the fate that awaited them at Kamino.

# # #

As adrenaline flooded his system, Rex felt his head clearing. Any lingering effects of sedatives were overpowered by pure clone adrenaline. A sense of purpose coursed through Rex again as he felt his body automatically responding to the call to battle.

Rex moved quickly out into the aisle.

"Dart!" he shouted. His voice sounded unusually loud in the quiet of the cabin. "My bucket, now!" Rex's voice had the crisp unmistakable quality it did when he was in command.

The ARC obeyed without question, hobbling across the aisle, and scooping up Rex's helmet from the floor. He stood up and lobbed the helmet down the aisle toward Rex, who caught it easily. The Captain gave the ARC a succinct nod of thanks. Rex snapped his helmet into place. As the HUD in his helmet powered up, his universe suddenly seemed to make sense again.

He amped up the volume on his helmet. His voice automatically deepened to the raspy baritone he used with the 501st when calling them to attention before a battle.

"Wake up, troopers!" Rex snapped out, loudly. "Naptime is officially over! We've got some unwanted company off the port side."

Every clone head on the ship snapped over to look off the port side. A slight murmur went through the ship. Rex could literally feel the energy level of the ship picking up several notches, as waves of adrenaline surged through the rest of the clone population aboard.

"If we all want to live through this," Rex continued, "then we need to prepare to receive our visitors. Buckets on. Blasters ready. Move it, troopers!"

The energy level of the ship suddenly jumped several notches, and he heard the word: "Pirates!" being muttered by the previously silent clones.

 _Live through this? An ironic choice of words_... Rex thought. We live through this, and then carry on to Kamino, so the Kaminoans can take us all out like a bunch of nerf to slaughter?

Rex's command training snapped into place. _Win the battle first, then work out the rest of the post-battle logistics. (Like using all those long spindly necks for target practice...)_

Rex observed the clones suiting up, some seated, and some standing. "For those of you, who can't walk," Rex added in, "feel free to shoot the bastards from where you are sitting. And, for those of you who are currently immobile, I invite you to think venomous thoughts."

This earned a good-natured round of laughter from everyone aboard. Since Rex was on crutches, he obviously understood the frustrations of being a battle-hardened clone faced with physical limitations. But, giving up a fight, before it had even begun, went counter to a clone's nature. Rex heard pieces of armor quickly clicking back into place, and weapons being efficiently assembled and loaded out of gear bags.

Rex looked over at the bio-beds lined up against one wall. Each bed contained a trooper who had suffered some level of spinal paralysis. The 'spinal' patients glanced over at all the new activity with a mixture of interest, sadness, and envy. Rex's heart felt heavy as he looked at these brothers who had paid such a heavy price for defending the Republic.

Shab, we all paid a heavy price for defending the Republic, Rex reflected, but, the rest of us just got a little luckier with the placement of our injuries.

"How many combat pilots do we have onboard? Sound off." Rex had estimated the total ship occupancy to be close to 100 troopers. Of that, three identified themselves as combat pilots. He asked the three pilots to switch over to a private channel so he could have a quick side conversation with them. "Of the three of you, how many of you are still able-bodied enough to fly?" Rex asked.

"Name's Razor. I'm in one of the biobeds. I can't fly. I'm useless, Captain," Rex winced at the deep pain and sadness he could hear in his voice. It was a sadness that cut straight to the bone.

"I understand, trooper," Rex said, wishing he could more to ease his emotional pain, understanding so clearly what the brother was going through. But, there was no time for that now. "Who else?"

"Name's Odds, Captain. I'm down to one arm, but I can do a lot with just one arm. There's a doctor at ArmyMed with a black eye who can testify to that."

Rex laughed, "Meet me up in the cockpit."

Another voice sounded off in Rex's helmet, "Name's Chance, Captain. I have a leg injury, but I have two working arms."

"Showoff," muttered Odds.

"Alright, I'll meet both of you in the cockpit," Rex said, quickly making his way forward to the cockpit. On the way, he passed by the biobeds. He wondered which of the five was the paralyzed pilot he had just spoken with. He had no way of knowing, and no time to find out. Rex was tempted to make eye contact with each of the clones as he walked by, but he resisted. He had no time right now for distractions. So, he kept his attention fixed straight ahead.

But, if they got out of this... No. When they got out of this, he was going to find that pilot. No, he was going to get to know all of these spinal patients. Rex shook his head, wondering why it had taken pirates to remind him of what being a brother meant.

The R-4 was still chirping away as it flew the ship, oblivious of the danger that flew alongside them. Rex greeted the pilots as they came in, and introduced himself.

"I'm Capt-", Rex grimaced, as he caught himself, "former Captain Rex of the 501st."

"The 501st?" the first trooper smirked, and playfully punched his companion, "hey, we're in the company of royalty. I'm Odds. Used to fly larties for the Lancer Battalion," He reached an arm out to greet Rex. His other arm was cut-off right at the shoulder. His bodysuit was flapping loosely, making the lost limb even more apparent.

"Chance. I flew for 91st Reconnaissance Corps," said the second pilot, who was on crutches like Rex. He gathered the crutches into one hand so that he could clasp arms with Rex, "also honored to meet you, Captain. Just not such a smartass about it, as my companion here." Odds shrugged, obviously not the least bit sorry, or apologetic, about being referred to as a smartass. "If you don't mind my saying so, Captain," Chance continued, "you're not a former anything. Not in my eyes, anyway, and I'm betting not in the eyes of any trooper here onboard this ship."

Rex felt something lump in his throat.

"Who's dogging us, Captain?" said Odds, getting down to business, squeezing past the R4 to look at all the control screens.

Rex turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

"It's armored like a pirate raider. I've run into them before out here in the Rim. But, I've never seen this particular model of ship."

"Mind if I get to work? " Chance gestured toward the empty co-pilot chair.

Rex took a step back, and made a hand gesture that said: 'It's all yours.'

The R-4 swiveled its' head and chirped a loud protest at them, but then went back to its' flying.

"Fine. You're so worked up about it. You tell us what it is, then," Odds said to the R4 unit.

The R4 uttered a high-pitched beep that sounded suspiciously like the droid version of profanity but offered up no useful information. "Thanks for the holoflash," Odds said. The R4 beeped again, this time at such a pitch that all three clones had to briefly hold their ears before their helmet's sound filters kicked in. With only one hand, Odds was at a distinct disadvantage. He smacked the R4 unit.

Odds shook his head, "These older units are worthless."

"Leave the droid alone," Chance said, studying a screen,"no markers, no transponder signal. Heavily armed, highly modified ship."

"I would leave the droid alone, except he's in my seat," Odds muttered.

"Where does our ship stand with regards to shields and weapons?" asked Rex.

Odds toggled a screen in front of the R-4, checking shield status. The R-4 beeped in annoyance at the intrusion.

"Pipe down, tinnie," muttered Odds.

Odds turned back to Rex, "Minimal shielding. This thing is truly intended to be a transport ship only. Not designed to put up much of a fight."

"Same sad story with weapons," said Chance, "bare minimum required to destroy a stray asteroid or two that might wander in our path, but that's about it."

"Can you get me a schematic of this ship?" Rex asked.

Chance pulled up a 3-D schematic. Rex studied it thoughtfully for a long moment and then held up his gauntlet.

"Give me a download of that."

Chance sent the info to Rex via infrared. Rex looked out the viewport window at the other ship, still pacing them.

"If they wanted to destroy us, they would have done so when we first came into range. What are they after? " Rex leaned back against a console, set his crutches aside, and folded his arms across his chest in his classic thinking pose.

"They must want something onboard this ship," said Odds.

"But, the only thing aboard this ship is, well, us," said Chance.

"Yeah, I don't think they know what's on board," Rex said, peering out the viewport again thoughtfully, "They're trying to figure out if we're worth the effort."

"The effort of what, sir?" asked Odds.

"Boarding us," Rex said, simply and calmly.

Odds and Chance exchanged a surprised 'you've got to be kidding me' look.

"Well, we won't be able to fend them off with shields and weapons," said Rex. He got up from leaning against the console. "So, we'll just have to throw them a bit of a surprise party if they decide to board. You two ready to take over flying this useless barge?"

"Sir, yes, sir," said Odds and Chance together.

Rex rolled his eyes at their formality. "A simple yes, Captain, will do."

 _Yes, I guess I just re-commissioned myself. To hell with your rules._ _I'm saving these brothers._

Rex took out his blaster, spun it around once with a flourish, and shot the R-4 unit in the head. He shoved it off the seat. It fell with a clatter to the deck. Odds burst out laughing.

"Sir, those droids do come with an off switch," Chance said, calmly, gazing down at the smoking R4 droid.

"Yeah, and I think I just found it," Rex said. Odds doubled over, laughing so hard that he could barely breathe.

"All yours," Rex said, making a grand gesture toward the empty chair.

"Thank you, Captain," Odds said, trying to recover enough from his laughter so that he could properly salute the Captain. He got a hold of himself and managed to get a snappy salute with his one hand. "I won't disappoint you, sir!" Odds said, the enthusiasm evident in his voice.

"I know you won't, trooper," Rex said, smartly saluting him back. As he left the cockpit to join the troopers in the back, he felt as if he was rediscovering a part of himself again.

# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note about depression: This chapter shows the effects of depression on Rex. Signs and symptoms of depression include hopeless outlook, withdrawal, increased fatigue, anxiety, irritability or misplaced anger, and thoughts of death. But, this is not a story about depression. This is a story of hope. Star Wars has always been a story of hope.


	29. Attacked by Pirates

Rex exited the cockpit with the smell of burning circuit boards still wafting through the air. The acrid smell of the destroyed R4 unit clung to his nostrils and made his eyes water. Rex heard the fans coming on as Odds and Chance vented out the room. He paused for a moment and leaned against a bulkhead. He couldn't 'walk' and put on his helmet at the same time- not since he'd been injured. He leaned back against a bulkhead, balancing for a moment, as he slid his bucket off the belt clip and jammed it back on. It had been over a month now since that night on TriLuna when he'd first been injured. Four fekkin' weeks since he could put any kind of weight on his leg. Rex grabbed his crutches and continued on his way to the crew cabin, annoyed at his continued impaired mobility. But, as he thought of the five men in the biobeds, he realized it could be so much worse.

As his helmet sealed tight with his bodysuit, it created an environment of ideal moisture and humidity. The dryness and irritation in his eyes eased up. Rex began studying the schematic of the ship's layout as he made his way back to the main crew cabin. There was something so right about multi-tasking again, scrolling through information on his HUD with just a blink of his eyes. The information came at him with dizzying speed. Rex had been trained since infancy to read data off quickly scrolling computer screens. Moving and reading a HUD simultaneously were essential clone skills, a complex multi-sensory processing gene that Jango Fett obviously possessed. He'd been bored out of his mind at ArmyMed and now he could feel the adrenaline flowing through his body again like an essential drug his body was born to crave. Even as Rex processed the schematic, working on a defensive strategy, his mind still wandered off in other directions as well. Rex smiled to himself, still relishing the memory of blasting the R4 unit.

_I probably shouldn't mention destroying the astromech to General Skywalker._

Thinking of Skywalker gave him a sharp pang. Where was General Skywalker anyway? Ever since he'd left ArmyMed, Rex had half-expected to see the _Resolute_ come barreling out of hyperspace, arriving to rescue him. At the very least, they could have sent the Twilight. Wasn't Rex a valued member of the crew? Didn't anybody have a problem with what was happening to him? Weren't Jedi supposed to get all worked up about stuff like this? Isn't that what they were famous for? Even if General Skywalker, or Ahsoka were just too busy to get away, they could have sent somebody else. Fives and Echo. Kix and Coric. Jesse and Hardcase. Shinies on a training mission. Gah. Anybody. The fact that they just let him be sent away with no effort to get him back, well, it stung.

No, it more than just stung. It hurt. A lot.

Rex took a deep steadying breath. Not even a farewell comm link. 'Thanks for everything, Rex, 'ol pal.' Or, 'Hey, Rex. We're trying to find a workaround solution. Just hang in there.'

OK, not like I tried to contact the ship. Fierfek. Why didn't I contact them?

Rex scowled fiercely thinking again of the many hypos he was jammed with before leaving ArmyMed. He hadn't cared about anything for the beginning part of the journey. He was too doped to the gills. If not for the current adrenaline rushing through his veins, his brain would probably still be muddled.

He'd finished going through the ship schematic and knew what he needed to do. He also knew needed to stop thinking about the _Resolute_. With a painful lump in his throat, Rex realized he must close himself off from the life he left behind. It was the only way to survive, and stay sane. Whether the crew on the Resolute had abandoned him on purpose or by accident, he was on his own now. Brothers weren't supposed to be left behind, but he would have to rely on himself without the 501st now.

He'd arrived back into the main part of the ship. What mattered were the men in front of him. They were still alive and Rex planned on keeping them that way. After a day and a half of morbid lassitude, the main room was alive with activity. Troopers were helping each other suit up and there was a quiet but steady undercurrent of conversation. While still somewhat subdued, it was the same sort of chatter Rex was used to hearing from the 501st. There was a bit of nervous joking and speculation about what was out there.

Rex was glad the Kaminoans wanted all of their "defective" clones sent back with their full gear. The more Rex thought about it, the more he saw now how it all fit together. The Kaminoans shrewd business sense fit in with the Senate's need to have a clean, anesthetic war. Yes, send the damaged (i.e. 'defective') units back with all their gear. Why? Well, no loose ends. Yes, Rex could picture it now that he was caught up in it with all these other troopers. Check them out of the hospital. Send back everything with them, and dispose of everything far away from any possible prying (and sympathetic) eyes at Coruscant. It was all very neat and tidy, and the Kaminoans loved neat and tidy.

Rex pulled his rifle from his gear bag, slung it over his shoulder and then stepped back out to the middle of the aisle.

He turned his helmet back up to full application. "Listen up, troopers! All of you! I don't know if I fully outrank each of you, and frankly I don't care." As Rex was speaking, he could hear an excited undercurrent of whispering going back and forth between the men.

"Do you know who that is?"

"That's Captain Rex of the 501st!"

Rex smiled to himself behind his helmet. After being treated like a just a number over at ArmyMed, it was nice to be treated with some respect again. He had to admit that he'd missed it. He stood up a bit straighter and his voice automatically dropped in pitch to the more gravelly tone he used when barking at the 501st. He spoke as loudly and confidently as he could, like he always did before motivating his troops before a battle: "There's a ship out there that we can only assume is hostile. Judging by their equipment, they've got every intent of boarding us. Don't know about you, but I could use a good fight right about now. I've been wanting to smash, kick or hit something for a couple of weeks now. The way I got treated at ArmyMed left me with a few anger issues."

This earned a rousing cheer and guffaws of laughter from the men.

Rex put his hands up to quiet the men down.

"So, we're assuming the folks trailing us are pirates," said Rex, "but, even if they're not, feel free to shoot at anything that shoots at you," this earned another round of cheers. Rex gave them a moment to settle down before he continued. "We'll be setting up a defensive perimeter in front of the airlock." He used his gauntlet to project a 3-D diagram of the ship schematic. "So far, they haven't fired upon us to disable our engines. This implies they want the ship, or its' cargo, completely intact. So, our defensive perimeters will be here- and here," Rex said, pointing into the schematic, "the men who are too injured to fight, I want you to move back here, by the bio-beds. This will keep you away from the action. I want a wall of able-bodied men in front of them, as a defensive perimeter. By able-bodied, I simply mean you've still got your weaponry, and are capable of hitting what you're aiming at. If you can do that, you're welcome to join in the fight. I want the bio-beds unhooked from the walls in the event we have to move them in a hurry. No brothers get left behind. Is that clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" came the overwhelming response from the assembled troopers.   
  
Rex signaled Dart and the two commandos over to him, pointing out positions around the airlock that needed defending. "If they're going to board, they'll probably do it soon. Assign men to take positions."

The ARC and the commandos immediately dispersed and started barking orders, moving troopers into place.

Rex intercepted the one-handed trooper from the galley. "Take charge of the bio-beds. Keep them well-protected and if you see any other troopers that need extra protection, keep them back by you, as well. Grab as many troopers as you need to protect the beds." The trooper saluted sharply and immediately started making order of the chaos around him.

"Captain Rex!" Odds hailed him over his helmet comm.

"Go ahead," said Rex.

"The ship is moving to inter-"

Rex heard a ship lock onto their airlock.

"-cept us!" said Chance, "They scrambled our shields, and locked on to our airlock!"

"Confirmed. We hear them," said Rex. "We're ready. Stand by in case we need to make a quick exit out of here."

"Understood," said Chance.

Rex stood up straighter, muscles tensed, both blasters drawn. He let the support column take his weight, so he could concentrate on shooting. Dart and the two commandos had done a good job dispersing the men, but they made very easy targets with their brightly colored armor.

 _We're too visible.  
_  
"Anybody know where the kill switch is for the lights?" Rex asked over comms.  
  
"I'm on it, Captain," someone responded, immediately, and all the lights were switched off.

"Switching off the lights up here. Dimming all displays," reported Chance.

The entire ship went dark. The only light was coming from the blinking indicators on the sides of the bio-beds. Several nearby troopers spotted the problem and blankets were tossed over these indicator panels, covering up the lights, and keeping the beds from becoming targets.

Rex's visor automatically switched over to night vision. He looked around at the other clone troopers, poised, tensed, and focused on the airlock.

_These were clones the Kaminoans wanted to throw away. How could the Kaminoans, or the Republic, possibly think these men had no value anymore?_

Rex tightened his grip on his blasters, as he heard the airlocks spin and begin to cycle open.

"Steady," Rex said into his internal comlink, "we have the advantage here. These space rats don't know they're raiding a shipful of troopers."  
  
Dart's voice cut in. "A shipful of troopers with anger issues." 

This earned a round of quiet laughter from the men. Granted, since they were all switched onto internal comlinks they could have been laughing uproariously and it still would have been completely silent to the outside world. But, they were all feeling the moment.  
  
"Alright, Dart, cut the chatter." He wasn't wrong. All the troopers here were likely feeling the same as Rex. Angry about everything that had happened to them and looking for an outlet. They still had no idea about what would happen to them after they managed to ward off these pirates, but it would be good to fight one last time as troopers. "Let's try to trap as many of them fully inside the ship here as possible. Nobody fire until I give the signal." 

The airlock slowly opened, spilling light into the darkened room. Several troopers quickly backed up to avoid falling into the swath of light. Rex was amazed how quickly they moved, considering every one of them was considered "walking wounded." Even though their helmets offered a sound-proof environment, Rex still whispered when he spoke. "Who has a good visual? Can you confirm what we're dealing with?"

"Pirates, sir. Definitely pirates," said a trooper closer to the airlock.

The intruders continued to pile in through the airlock into the darkened room.

"Why is it so blasted dark in here? Hey, Oco, see if you can find the lights on this garbage scow," said an overly tall man, heavily armed, squinting in the darkness. Behind him, were a dozen sordid fighters, all carrying heavy repeating blasters.

'Oco' moved off from the group, squinting into the darkness. He began wandering off toward one wall, headed for a whole pile of troopers.

"Not yet," Rex coached the men quietly, still holding off on firing, "wait until they're all inside. If need be, take that guy down quietly."

'Oco' fell down heavily, hitting the deck.

"What was that?" said the leader, holding up a hand, and freezing in place.

"That was me, boss," responded Oco, "I tripped over something. I don't know what. No, wait. Not something. Someone! It feels like- -metal- no, feels like armor- "

There was a strangled cry, and then silence.

"Oco! Oco! What happened?" the pirate 'boss' demanded.

The pirates stopped, frozen in place.

"Oco! Where are you? What happened? What did you see? Where are those frakkin' lights? Why is it so dark in here? Someone find the lights!"

As they called out to their fallen shipmate, and began to disperse, looking for the lights, Rex gave the signal to his men.

"You heard the man. He asked for lights," Rex said steadily over the comms, "on my mark, headlamps on, full strength, focused beam, eye level. Then, fire immediately. Get ready… on my mark… now!"

The room suddenly came alive in a blaze of light as the clones all switched on their headlamps at once. The effect was dazzling, as the lights seemed intensely bright in the blackness of the room. With the beams directed right in their faces, the pirates were effectively blinded. Instinctively, they all threw up an arm to shield their faces from the onslaught of painfully piercing light. And, it was in that instant of vulnerability that Rex gave the command all the clones had been waiting upon.

"Fire!" Rex commanded and the entire area lit up with blue bolts of blaster fire. There were screams of panic and pain from the pirates. In just seconds, it was over, with all of their targets easily neutralized. "Circle!" Rex said. He had to holster both his blasters in order to grab his crutches and move in closer to the enemy. Rex hated the fact that he was temporarily unarmed, and basically unable to defend himself. He'd have to depend upon his brothers to watch his back for the moment. Rex moved in quickly, so he could assess the enemy. The clones formed a circle, guns drawn, pointed down at the pirates. Many were already dead, but a few were alive, moaning and thrashing on the ground. The clones formed a tight circle around them, offering no hope of escape.

"Let's finish it," said Rex, having no sympathy for pirates, "we're not in a position to take prisoners here. Rex balanced himself on one leg, and drew one of his blasters, taking aim at one of the prisoners who was still moving. He was not going to shirk the dirty work. "On my mark," he said, his voice not betraying any emotion, "fire."

There was another blast of intense fire, and then no movement at all. Rex didn't bother to dwell upon the charred mess on the cabin floor. He had no sympathy for these pirates. He spun around, sensing a new danger. He heard the engines in the other ship powering up.

"Seal that airlock!" Rex barked, making his way toward it. But, knowing other men could move a lot faster than he could, he bellowed out, "move it! Move it! Get that airlock sealed!"

"The other ship is firing engines!" Chance reported, the urgency clear in his voice.

"Seal that airlock! NOW!" Rex ordered, moving as quickly as he could across the room toward the airlock.

"They're panicking! They are not detaching from our airlock!" Chance said.

Two troopers were working together to seal the airlock. By the time Rex got over to the door, it was sealed. Rex looked out the door at the airlock attachment that was sealing their two ships together.

"Can we detach the lock from our end?" Rex asked, feeling their ship begin to shake.

"I'm trying, but it won't release. We're locked together!" said Chance.

The ship began shuddering ominously.

"Alright, everybody, move to the forward cabin!" Rex ordered. "Move! Move! The bio-beds! Get the bio-beds into the forward cabin! Go! Go! Go! No brother gets left behind! Move it! Move it!"

Rex continued to bellow at the troopers, evacuating them out of the back cabin, as he continued to feel the ship shudder violently. Rex was the last one through the door to the smaller forward cabin.

"Seal it up!" he yelled.

"Strap yourselves in! Brace yourselves! Hold on!" Rex instructed.

The door to the forward bulkhead was sealed. A few moments later, there was a terrible sound of groaning, tearing metal followed by a burst of decompressed air. The ship shuddered and pitched wildly, bashing troopers together and down to the ground.

The ship's engines shrieked as they suddenly were yanked out of sub-light. Rex had no time to grab a hold of anything and was sent airborne. He tucked his body into a roll, just as he'd been taught in training so that he landed with the least amount of damage possible. He didn't have very much muscle control of his injured leg, so it wasn't a very graceful roll. But, thanks to his armor, he landed without any serious injury. A half-second later, another trooper flew into him, knocking all the air out of Rex's lungs. OK, getting tackled by another brother in full armor was painful.

"Ow," Rex said, lying on the ground for a moment, without moving.

There was complete silence for a moment. Then, everyone began to pick themselves up. The clone who'd fallen on Rex began untangling himself with a groan.

"Who'd I land on?" the trooper mumbled, looking around. Rex recognized the voice of Dart.

"That would be me," Rex said, looking up, "you can get off of me, anytime now, Dart. You're a heavy fekker, you know."

"Funny," grumbled Dart, craning his head to look down at Rex. "Oh, hey, sorry about that Captain." He rolled himself off of Rex with a groan and limped off.

Rex looked around, assessing the situation. The forward cabin consisted mainly of jumpseats that pulled down from the walls. They weren't overly comfortable for long trips, but the seats had crash belts and would do in a pinch. A number of the more nimble troopers had managed to get themselves strapped in on time. Although, there were a fair number of men lying in a heap on the floor like he was.

Rex used a wall to push himself back up to his feet, working out some of the stiffness and achiness from his muscles, "Well, I suppose that takes care of jettisoning those pirates back out into space," Rex muttered, gazing back toward what used to be the back cabin. He hadn't meant the comment to be overheard, but clone hearing is unusually good.

His comment earned several guffaws from the troopers around him.

"OK, who's injured?" Rex asked, looking around.

This earned another round of laughter.

"I was not trying to be funny there," grumbled Rex. This comment earned even more laughter. Rex leaned back against the bulkhead and joined in. "I guess that was a stupid question on a medical transport, huh?" Rex relaxed back against the bulkhead a moment more, enjoying the brotherhood and the laughter. "Alright, then, I'll leave you troopers to get yourselves sorted. I'm headed upfront to get a damage report from our pilots."

Rex looked around, and suddenly realized he wasn't going anywhere without his crutches. He used the wall to push himself up and balanced on his one leg looking around. Krek. Where had the stupid things ended up when everything had gone flying?

Without even asking, someone tossed one crutch his way and then another. He didn't bother checking if they were his original ones or not. Good enough. Several troopers gave him the thumbs-up sign as he worked his way around them. A couple had their helmets off and gave him a good-natured smile. Rex felt sore and bruised, but it was a familiar kind of sore. He always ached someplace after a battle, often in a lot of places. As his new bruises made themselves felt, Rex actually welcomed the feeling. It made life seem normal again, if just for a short while.

Rex arrived at the cockpit hatch. The pilots had closed and sealed the entrance to the cockpit.

Smart move, Rex thought.

Rex called through to them on his commlink, and they released the hatch. They both turned and acknowledged him with a respectful nod as he came through, before turning back to their stations. Without needing to be prompted, Chance provided Rex with a status update.

"Sir, when the airlock sheered off it took off a good-sized chunk of hull with it," Chance flipped up a data screen and showed Rex.

"We also suffered damage to our engines," Odds said, pointing to another screen, showing readouts spiking into the red zone, that's what pulled us out of sublight."

"Yes, we noticed that," Rex commented dryly, "we had one big happy trooper pile-up back there."

"Apologies for the bumpy ride," Odds said, pointing to all the red warning lights in front of him on the control panel. "Sir, there is no way we can make it to Kamino with this level of damage."

Can't make it to Kamino?

"Ah. A shame about that," Rex said deadpan, earning a bit of light-hearted laughter from the pilots, "the men will be positively devastated. What about communications?"

"Sorry, sir. Communications are still being jammed," Chance said.

"Can't actually say I'm heartbroken about that either," Rex said, rubbing his chin, thoughtfully, "OK, options?"

"Well, not a lot of options, sir, but, well, I do have one idea," Odds said, his voice rising with enthusiasm as he presented an idea to Rex, "we were just passing through the Ando system when the pirates started tailing us. They snuck up on us from behind one of Ando's moons. Chance and I believe we can still fire the sublight engines for short controlled bursts, without tearing the hull apart. We'll have to time it very carefully, putting the least amount of strain on the hull possible, so that we don't tear the ship apart. However, it should be enough to allow us to do a controlled descent onto another of Ando's moons."

"A controlled descent?" Rex asked, "is that a nice way of saying our best option is to crash land onto this Andoan moon?"

"Crash, sir?" Odds said, "'Crash' has such a negative connotation. We pilots always prefer to think of it in terms of a very rapid descent with varying degrees of maneuverability."

"And, quite a bit of flexibility in where we might actually land," Chance added in.

Sounds like something the General would say.

He pushed the thought away. No more thinking about the 501st. It hurt to think about his past.

"Alright, you have my approval. How much time until our 'controlled descent?'"

Odds quickly did some calculations onto a screen, and then had Chance verify his numbers.

"About twenty minutes, Captain," Chance said, after checking the calculations, "maybe less, if the engine's start to deteriorate more quickly."

Rex quickly consulted his HUD for information about the second Andoan moon. "Breathable air. Continental climate. Sparse population. That might not a bad thing for us. Not a lot of info on this place, but I guess it will have to do."

Chance glanced up at him. "We'll do the best we can with the crashing, sir. Rest assured."

"See that you do." He stood behind Chance and Odds another moment, watching their control screens over their shoulders. "What's our target touch-down area?"

Chance brought up a geographical map of the planet and pointed to what looked like a large region of open, uninhabited land along one of the planet's seas.

"It's a bit chilly there, sir, but there's also a minimal amount of debris for us to hit if we go in hard. Without knowing exactly how much damage we've sustained, I'm not sure how controlled our descent will be. So, we're hoping to shed as much speed as possible before we impact. But, this area," Chance tapped the screen with his white armored finger, "should still have a decent snowpack at this time of year. But, since they're heading into spring, won't be too cold, either. Combine those conditions, and we should have a nice, mushy snow cushion to land in. Our suits should protect us well-enough from the climate."

Rex's mind flitted back to some of the other snow planets he'd been, and the specialized snow gear they'd donned to deal with the conditions. Rex didn't have such specialized gear in his gear bag, and he doubted many of the others did either unless they regularly worked in colder climates. So, they'd all be dependent upon their regular bodysuits and armor to keep them warm. They would make it work. Clones were known for adapting.

"Good job, you two. Proceed. Keep me posted." Rex slipped from the cockpit to go check on the rest of the men.

In the cockpit behind him, Chance and Odds continued to chat, getting to know one another.

Odds looked back over his shoulder at the quickly retreating Rex. "He's a decent sort of vod, that Captain Rex."

Chance just nodded his head, deep in thought over the calculations he was working on.

Odds cocked his head to the side, "From everything I'd heard about him, I really thought he'd be more of a hardass, you know?" Odds shrugged, the gesture causing his loose bodysuit sleeve to sway gently. Odds turned his attention forward again, "OK, back to this whole crashing bit. Call me strange, but, I actually enjoy a good crash now and again."

Chance just shook his head in exasperation, realizing how his co-pilot had earned his nickname.

# # #

The crowded forward cabin was a hive of activity. A few of the clones had suffered minor injuries when the two ships tore apart. The injured had been lined up into one corner and were being tended by a clone with the markings of a medic. Other troopers were busily looking for places to safely stash all the gear bags since the front compartment didn't have the same amenities as the roomier rear compartment. Rex wasn't sure whom to go to for a situation update, since he didn't actually have a second-in-command.

Rex stood there, feeling a bit awkward and uncertain. He almost didn't want to interrupt, since everyone seemed to be so productively engaged at the moment. On the other hand, he was a command clone. He should be commanding.

A clone with predominately red armor approached Rex and removed his helmet. A long scar ran across his face and through one of his eyes which was cloudy and sightless. "Captain Rex. My name is Lieutenant Torch. CC-7471. So far we've got one mild concussion, three sprains and number of contusions. But, overall, not counting the injuries we came onboard with, our troopers are in good shape, sir."

"Excellent, Torch. We're about to do a controlled descent onto the second moon of Ando. Estimated touchdown 15 minutes, depending upon how long our engines hold out. I'll need your help getting everyone prepared."

"A controlled touchdown, sir? We're crashing?"

Torch nodded thoughtfully. "That's not much time. I suggest you do a general announcement again to the whole group. These troopers seem to work well together."

It was a good idea.

Rex turned back around to address everyone and amplified his voice through his comm. He used the same no-nonsense voice that he had used before the battle with the pirates, "Listen up!" The troopers immediately stopped what they were doing and turned his way, "Our little dance with the pirates damaged both the hull and the engines. We're going to set this rust bucket down on the second moon of Ando in about 15 minutes. If you value your shebs, strap it in tight. And, strap down anything you don't want to see smacking into you or the vod next to you when we go down."

"Does this mean we're not going to Kamino, Captain?" one clone asked cheekily, doing his best to sound devastated.

"Fek, no," Rex answered. "Now, move it!" Rex finished off, and the cabin became a flurry of organized activity as the troopers began their crash preparations.

"Masterfully done, sir. Never heard such an eager bunch to crash before," Odds commented privately to Rex.

"It's all in the positioning," Rex responded.

"We're at just a little over 13 minutes to impact, sir," updated Odds. "The engines are holding so far, but they could start losing power faster as we descend through the atmosphere. Get everyone strapped in as tight as they can and prepare them for a very hard impact. We're going in hard and fast."

"Copy that," said Rex. He switched back over to his external comlink.

"Just got word from the pilots that we are 13 minutes to impact! Repeat 13 minutes to impact. Prepare for a hard, repeat, hard landing. Get everyone and everything strapped in! Move it, troopers!"

Rex surveyed the room. He gestured to Torch.

"Yes, Captain?"

"I'm concerned about the men in the bio-beds. We need to find some way to secure them further so they are not thrown during the hard landing."

"I'll take care of it."

Rex clapped him on the shoulder and nodded his thanks. He then went around the room, checking that everyone and everything was properly secured down. Satisfied with everyone's progress, Rex headed over to the bio-beds. Torch was working with another clone, using crash webbing, to tie the beds down securely.

"How's it coming?" Rex asked, glancing checking the chrono on his HUD to see how much time they had left.

Torch responded without looking up from what he was doing. "This will work, but I'm concerned we may not finish in time."

"I'm on it," Rex said, "throw me some webbing."

The clone Torch was working with looked up briefly in surprise as if he hadn't expected Rex to be so hands-on in his working style. He and Rex locked eyes for a moment. It was the same clone who had been sitting behind Rex in the rear compartment of the ship, the one with the rare mutation of the blue eye and the brown eye.

As Rex stared at this unusual clone, he got the strangest impression of a storm brewing just behind his eyes. It seemed as if the brother was just barely containing whatever emotions he had locked up inside of him, and it wouldn't take much before it all came barreling out. Rex made a mental note to keep an eye on this particular trooper.

"Thanks for watching out for us, Captain," said the paralyzed clone trooper in the bed Rex was working on. Rex looked down, a little startled to hear the man in the bed speaking. The clone's lips were parched and it was difficult for him to speak. Rex wondered when the last time was he'd had any water.

"Rest easy, vode," Rex said, gently, "no brother gets left behind, OK?"

"That's a nice thing to say," the trooper said, through his dry, cracked lips, as if he wasn't sure whether to believe it or not, "even if I die, it's nice to know somebody cared what happened to me in the end. Thanks for that."

Those words punched Rex right in the stomach. He remembered being at ArmyMed and feeling like nobody cared anymore if he lived or died.

Rex clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, we'll have a drink once we make it safely down to the planet. You can thank me, then, alright?"

The trooper smiled gratefully at him.

Rex made a mental note to bring the man a drink of water once they made it safely down. He needed to bring all these men water. He kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. No one had been tending to these brothers at all. Why had it taken a pirate attack to remind them what it meant to be brothers?

Rex pushed the thought aside and concentrated on the task at hand.

Rex didn't have time to continue the conversation, so he just gave the trooper a reassuring pat on the shoulder and kept working on securing the bed. He finished securing the bed, and moved on to the next one.

"Here," Torch said, coming over to help Rex. Rex looked up briefly, curious where the 'strange' clone had gone. Without even being asked, Torch answered his question.

"I ordered him to get to a jumpseat, and get strapped in," Torch said.

Rex nodded.

He tossed Rex a piece of webbing. Rex caught it easily, and the two of them made a good team, deftly tying knots. The trooper in this bed was unconscious, but Rex still briefly put his hand on his brother's shoulder, and said: "Rest easy, vod."

Torch gazed at Rex for a moment, curiously.

Rex and Torch moved on to the next bed.

They worked quickly to tie down the bed and secure the person in it.

This time, Rex avoided looking at the person in the bed, so he could concentrate on working as quickly as possible. He knew they were very quickly running out of time- were likely to run out of time before they finished the job at hand.

"Captain," Odd's voice came on in Rex's comm, "we're approaching the planet now. Less than 5 minutes before we make planetfall. Get ready for a bumpy ride."

Rex blinked, using his eyes to adjust the controls in his helmet. He addressed all of the men, while his hands were still busily tying, "Five minutes everyone. So tighten up those straps nice and tight. Make yourself comfy and cozy. We're going in hard."

Rex looked down—just one more bio-bed to go.

Torch looked at Rex and his crutches pointedly, "You should go strap in. I'll finish this."

His message was clear. I can move faster than you.

Rex shook his head, "You won't finish in time. We're doing this together."

Rex and Torch worked as quickly as they could. As they were securing the last bio-bed, Odds commed Rex: "Entering the atmosphere."

Rex kept tying, focusing on getting the job done right. The ship started to shake around him.

Torch met his eyes. "Sir, you should-"

"No," Rex growled, "let's finish this together. Come on, move it! Let's go!"

The ship began to shudder even more. They finished tying off the last bed and started working their way over to a place to strap themselves in. Rex had a tough time staying on his feet with the way the ship was shuddering. Rex pitched backward at one point. Torch was right behind him and set him back on his good leg.

They were just a handsbreadth from their seats when Odds commed on the general channel: "Brace for impact! "

# # #


	30. Brace for Impact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ship lands on the Andoan moon. The landing does not go well.

"Brace for impact!"

The aged troop transport shook alarmingly as it plummeted. Torch and Rex struggled to make their way over to two empty jump seats near the beds. With the ship bucking and rattling it was difficult to keep their balance.

Rex saw the one-handed struggling to unhook his crash restraints so he could get up and assist Rex. "Hold!" He barked out. Rex had made his choice to help the men in the bio-beds and he wasn't going to have anyone else risk injury on his behalf. They were just seconds from impact, and everyone knew it. It was a tense question of whether those few seconds would be enough for Rex and Torch to make it from the bio-beds, along one wall, and over to the jump seats which had been deliberately kept open for them.

Surface winds at the highest levels of the moon's atmosphere buffeted the ship. The atmospheric currents sheering off the hull created an eerie whistling sound that reverberated around the ship from all sides. Except for this haunting cacophony, there was no sound aboard the doomed ship. It was as if every clone on the ship were holding their breath while they waited for Rex and Torch to make their jump seats safely. Rex reached his seat, but couldn't strap himself in yet. If he didn't secure his crutches, they could easily become lethal projectiles when they hit. Rex clearly recalled numerous training-vids showing highly detailed animation of clones getting speared in the head, torso, and limbs by improperly secured cargo. The Kaminoans were most thorough in their training. Rex always tried to make a point of securing stray cargo in the event of "unanticipated landings" and thanks to Skywalker, he had a great deal of experience in crashing.

Rex began tying his crutch to a nearby post using a spare piece of webbing he'd brought along with him. Torch grabbed the other crutch to secure it, helping Rex rather than worrying about himself.

"Fierfek, Torch!" Rex barked, not stopping in his work, "strap yourself-"

Rex never finished his sentence. The last thing he remembered hearing was Odds' voice in his HUD, shouting: "Impact!"

The aged transport slammed into the surface of Ando with a bone-jarring impact. Rex was thrown into his crash seat, which wasn't a terrible place to land, as it was cushioned. But, the force of the impact still sent his teeth grinding town into each other and his head slammed forward painfully into the plastisteel of the seat. The aged transport bounced off the snow plains and began skidding along the icy surface. Rex could tell immediately they hadn't shed enough speed before they'd impacted. The moment they encountered any sort of resistance like a rock formation or a hill-

"Brace!" Odds shouted again.

Rex was sent airborne, hurtling across the cabin.

 _Not this again!_ Rex thought as he hurtled all too quickly toward a bulkhead. His mind immediately flashed back to his past crashes. All of his previous crash landings blurred together at once in his mind. It all seemed to happen in surreal slow motion. He tucked his body into to minimize damage, the way he'd practiced time and again in training. Unfortunately, his training didn't account for a leg that was completely unresponsive and his body responded to the move awkwardly and he couldn't fully tuck in.

"Ooooooooph!" All the air was punched out of Rex in a gust as he hit the bulkhead and heard the crack of a rib giving way as he impacted the unyielding metal of the bulkhead. He was too stunned by the impact to feel any pain, but bile instantly rose up in his throat. He knew he'd be feeling pain later, though. Ventress had broken his ribs at Teth. He remembered how unsettlingly painful it was. With all of the air completely knocked out of him, Rex couldn't take a breath, either out or in. Having had the wind knocked out of him countless times before, Rex was hopeful that things in his chest would ease up and he'd be able to breathe again.

The ship began to scrape and slide across the surface of the planet, bouncing and Rex along the deck of the ship. Rex expected the ship to split wide-open, belching him and the others onto the snow plains of the moon at un-survivable speeds. But, despite all of the odds, (or maybe because of the skills of Chance and Odds,) the ship held together. Despite his bouncing and sliding, Rex tried to crane his head around and spot Torch. Twisting his head around turned out to be an unwise move because he nearly decapitated himself on the corner of a corner storage locker as the ship lurched again. Rex ducked, saving his head from being neatly sheered from his body, and still didn't spot any sign of Torch. The ship lurched up again violently and then immediately, plummeted again. Rex scrabbled to find something to hold onto to prevent himself from getting injured any further. He reached out with his gloved hands, trying to find something solid that he could use as an anchor. Rex saw his body being thrown toward a storage locker. He could see himself headed toward it, and knew it would hurt, but could not seem to get his body out of the way fast enough. Rex groaned as his shoulder hit the sharp corner of the cabinet. His armor protected him from the worst of the blow, but it was still a very painful impact.

The lights briefly flickered on, but then the room was plunged into darkness. Power in the rest of the ship cut out with a hissing 'snap.' The engine noise cut out suddenly and the debris smashing and grinding against the hull was amplified louder without the engine noise. Even without the engines still propelling the ship along, momentum continued to slide the ship along the icy surface, tumbling Rex along with it. The ship lurched upwards again, pitching Rex into the air with such force, he figured this would be the end of him.

Rex focused on Ahsoka.

_Don't forget me, OK?_

He tried to express everything he felt without saying the words. He kept his eyes closed and prepared to meet his fate, feeling strangely at peace. But, instead of hitting a bulkhead, or cabinetry, Rex found himself thrown into - armor. Rex recognized the familiar sound of plastoid armor clanking into more plastoid armor. He realized he'd flown into someone. Torch? No, make that several someone's. Several pairs of armored hands immediately grabbed onto Rex, gripping onto any piece of him they could grab onto. Rex still couldn't see anything, but he definitely recognized the familiar feel of being gripped securely in the armored hands of his brothers. He'd been carried off the battlefield enough times by brothers to know the feeling. He knew just what it felt like to having his life in the hands of brothers, just as he did now.

_Thank you, vode._

Rex couldn't see anything in the extreme darkness of the rattling, pitching, sliding ship. He was being gripped at the same awkward angle at which he'd been thrown into his brothers' arms. They'd simply caught him, and held on for dear life, (his), the moment they'd caught hold of him. His head seemed to be in someone's lap, (he didn't even want to know whose.) The boot of his good leg was gripped in someone's hands, his boot seemed to be in someone's face, and his other leg was dangling free. Someone was grabbing onto his shoulder right where he'd hit the storage cabinet. Fresh pain poured into the area as his armor was pressed down, digging right down into what Rex was sure was one big bruise. But, still, it sure beat getting thrown all around the cabin.

_Now, if I could only... breathe._

The ship was slowing down. Rex just stared into the pitch-blackness, taking in the cacophony of sounds, and the onslaughts of sensations. Everything was starting to seem very surreal. He began to feel very weak, and lethargic. He was suddenly just content to just lay there, even at this awkward angle. Part of him knew that he was suffering the effects of oxygen deprivation. Another part of him didn't care about anything anymore.

The sounds were starting to sound further and further away.

He was dimly aware the ship finally ground to a halt.

"The Captain's hurt!"

"Find a medic!"

A number of helmet headlamps shown down on him. He heard a strange gasping sound.

"He can't breathe!"

"Lay him down! Get his armor off!"

"Find a medkit!"

He heard voices shouting. It took him a long moment to realize everyone around him was talking about him. It all seemed so far away, and surreal. He was aware he was dying, but he just couldn't bring himself to be concerned about it. As Rex's helmet was removed, he blinked up into the blinding headlamps of many different clones peering down at him at all once. Darkness was swimming in front of his eyes as he gasped for air. His brain was struggling to make sense of everything.

_Too bright… want to sleep… leave me alone… so tired…_

Rex closed his eyes. It was all too much. He lay there, hurting all over, wanting to tell them to leave him alone. But, he couldn't speak.

"Lance is a medic! Get him over here!"

There were shouts as 'Lance' was sought out by a crew of clones who were not familiar with each other but were suddenly forced by circumstance to work together as a team.

Rex was efficiently stripped down by multiple pairs of hands. He didn't move at all. His whole body had gone completely slack. The only movements coming from his body were his pained attempts at breathing. He dimly thought of an ocean-creature he'd seen washed ashore, dying as it gasped for oxygen onshore. After watching its' struggles, Rex had picked it up and tossed it back in the water. No creature should have to suffer like that.

As his chest armor was removed, Rex was able to take a slight shuddering breath.

 _Oh, shab, that hurt…_ Rex's brain was dully able to register pain coming from his chest. Rex tried to take another breath, but it sent his whole chest into spasm.

His lungs were demanding oxygen, but the rest of him refused to cooperate, arguing that it was just too painful. Rex's whole body shivered involuntarily as the top half of his bodysuit was removed. Wherever they'd finally ended up touching down, it was fekkin' _**cold**_. The temperature in the cabin was already dropping. The strong movement of the involuntary shiver increased the pain of his ribs.

He was fading fast. He tried to get his arms up around his ribs, in a vain effort to somehow protect them. But, he just didn't have any strength left in his arms. His arms sank back to his sides.

"Where's that medic? We gotta' do something!"

"I'm here, vode. There's someone else badly injured. I was doing triage. Alright, make room."

Rex wanted to push the medic away and tell him to go back to what he was doing. He dimly wondered who the other clone was who was badly injured. He could wait. He just needed to sleep a bit.

"Captain. I'm Lance. Medic. 442nd." The medic, Lance, spoke in the calm way of all medics. Rex stared up at him blearily. His helmet was off, but the rest of his armor was typical red and white for the 442nd. He quickly took Rex's vitals and then examined Rex's chest with the confident, practiced movements of someone who had done this many times before. He pulled out a hypo, checked the dosage, and stabbed it into the muscles just above Rex's ribs. Rex jerked upwards in surprise at the sensation. All the movement set his chest on fire. Rex grabbed at his chest, this time succeeding in getting his arms wrapped protectively around his ribs. The clones gathered around moved in closer in concern, their headlamps suddenly making the area even brighter.

"Easy, Captain," Lance said, putting a bracing hand on Rex's shoulder, "it's going to get better in just a moment. Bear with me." Lance gently but firmly pulled Rex's arms away, so he could get access to his chest. Lance glanced up at all the troopers gathered around them and shook his head with a small, bemused smile. He was already in the process of filling up a second syringe. Lance's hands moved with practiced ease. Rex eyed the second needle blearily. It was a _big_ needle. Rex was beginning to understand how this clone had earned the name "Lance." Rex's vision was starting to blur, but he could see that Lance's face was scarred, the type of scarring a clone gets when he's caught near a fireball and his armor can't handle the heat.

"Just a tiny pinch, sir," Lance said, stabbing Rex again, close to the site of the first injection. The shot was _not_ a tiny pinch. It was downright painful. Rex gasped, both hands again going to his chest. Rex glared at him. "I'm not going to apologize, no matter how fiercely you look at me, Captain. You took a hard blow to the chest and fractured some ribs. I just gave you a muscle relaxant and a pain killer. Try to relax and let those shots do their thing. Just focus on taking slow, shallow breaths in and out."

It was easier said than done. Rex still felt like his whole chest was seizing up. He put his hands to his chest again, gasping. He just wanted to somehow ease the fire in his chest, so he could breathe again.

Lance put his hands on both sides of Rex's face. "You need to relax and take slow even breaths. You're not getting enough air." He checked Rex's vitals again and frowned worriedly. "Come on, stay with me! Focus, now!"

Stars were swimming in front of Rex's vision and all he wanted to do was sleep. Breathing hurt. But, the medic was relentless.

"Come on, Captain, _breathe_."

Rex peered just one eye open, and shot Lance an annoyed look. Rex took a small shuddering breath. It _**hurt**_.

"That's it, sir! Very good! Now, I need you to do it again. Take slow even breaths. Again. "Sir, sir! Stay with me, come on, you need to breathe!" Lance's voice was getting dimmer and dimmer, as were all the bright headlamps shining down into his face.

Rex felt himself drifting away. It would be so peaceful to just let it all go. He'd get to see all his fallen brothers again. He could apologize to them for not protecting them better. He'd finally be free of the war… But, what about Ahsoka?... Could he really leave-

Rex was rudely awakened by a hand smacking his face.

"Wake up, Captain! You CANNOT leave! You have to breathe! Come on. You got us down to this planet and now you owe to us to stay with us. So, breathe, damnit!"

OK, that was fair. He did drag all of these brothers down to this planet.

He also wanted to see Ahsoka again.

Ahsoka.

He started to drift off again thinking of Ahsoka. He was immediately roused by a hand smacking his cheek again.

"Wake up, Captain! You need to breathe! That's it! You're awake! Breathe, Captain, breathe!"

Rex struggled to take another breath. Shab, that hurt.

"That's it, sir!" said Lance, "breathe!... breathe!..."

Lance's voice had taken on a musical quality. He'd turned "breathe" into a sort of chant, saying the word rhythmically, pausing just the right amount of time to allow for a breath, then repeating again.

Rex tried to focus on Lance's voice as anchor through the murky blackness. It was hard. It was so easy to want to rest now. So tempting.

Then, he heard the other voices join in. A whole chorus of male voices, together as one, picking up on the chant, encouraging him to breathe. The voices were identical in pitch, yet, each man singing it was so utterly unique. All the bitterness, and loneliness, of his time at ArmyMed disappeared in that moment. He felt it then- the love, the camaraderie - everything that it meant to be a brother. Their encouragements had settled into a sort of a chant as they urged him to not give up.

"Breathe… breathe… breathe…." The chant was so rhythmic and so utterly contagious.

These were his _brothers_ , and they wanted him to _live_. Rex couldn't do anything to help his brothers who'd already died in battle. But, he could help these brothers. He knew he could. He was going to make things work out for these brothers, in memory of all the brothers he'd lost.

"Breathe…breathe…breathe…" as the chant continued, it was as if everyone on the ship had started breathing together. Maybe just maybe the clones on this ship could make something of themselves. A new life for themselves. Rex could see it. Somehow. It was all so clear to him at that moment. Rex squinted up into the bright headlights of dozens of brothers clustered around him, all focused on keeping him alive. He took another breath, and then another. Rex could feel some of the strength returning to his body. Rex started to breathe more normally again, and the spots cleared from his vision. After several more breaths, Rex was able to lift his head and look around. A cheer erupted from the men. Rex looked around in confusion, blinking up into the bright headlamps.

Rex squinted up into the bright contrasts of light and shadows cast by the headlamps. Darkness and light- a good metaphor for all the lost souls on the ship.

"Is everyone OK?" Rex hoarsely asked, peering around at everyone.

This earned a round of good-natured laughter from the men.

"The rest of us are fine, sir," said Lance, "it appears you and Torch took the brunt of the crash landing. We almost lost you, and Torch was in rough shape when I checked on him last. I need to get back to him ASAP. You took priority when you stopped breathing."

"Torch! What happened? How is-" Rex tried to rise up. It hurt to talk, but Rex forced the words out anyway. As Rex tried to rise, Lance immediately pushed him back down with two firm hands on either one of Rex's shoulders.

"Whoa! Captain! You're not going anywhere. You've got some broken ribs. I need to make sure they're not puncturing your lungs."

Rex tried to hold still and relax, but he needed to check the men. If Torch hadn't stopped to help him, and if he hadn't spent so much time at the bio-beds-

"The bio-beds?" Rex inquired, craning his neck to get a better view of them. "How did the men in the bio-beds fare?"

"The beds stayed put, and all five men are still alive. Thanks to the sacrifice of you and Torch," Lance answered. Rex groaned when Lance pushed on his ribs. "Oya, I'm not surprised that hurts," Lance continued to prod Rex's chest and side carefully. "Well, Captain, you've done an impressive job cracking some ribs, but your lungs aren't punctured."

Lance gestured to another clone to assist, and Rex recognized the clone who missing his hand. He was a good vod. "This is Mako," Lance explained. "I'll leave him here to finish patching you up." Lance handed Mako a medkit and gave him some quick instructions on patching up Rex's shoulder.

"You a medic, too?" Rex asked. Between the painkiller and the muscle relaxant, the whole room was spinning.

"Not exactly. I'm from the bomb squad," Mako responded. He shrugged a bit self-consciously and then focused on completing the task assigned to him by Lance. "I wanted to say that I also thought it was a good thing you did. All the guys, they think... " he waved his stump of a hand toward the direction of the bio-beds, "what I mean, to say, is, sir... it's good to know there are still people out there who won't leave another brother behind." Mako probed Rex's shoulder with his one good hand and then had him move his arm in various directions. It all hurt but nothing felt broken. Rex flinched as his shoulder was sprayed with bacta. "I'm going to pad it, and wrap it. Otherwise, with a bruise that size, it's going to be painful to wear your armor."

"Thanks," Rex said, appreciating the clone's thoughtfulness.

"I used to defuse bombs," the trooper explained. "Got pretty good at patching up both myself and my brothers." He held up his stump of a hand. "The bomb squad goes through brothers very quickly. You only need to make one mistake. I can't even remember what I did wrong. I thought I had it defused, but the bomb just went off. Thankfully, I was the only one caught in the blast. I think I would have much more upset if I'd hurt one of my brothers when I made a mistake. I always knew that's how my end would come. I just always hoped I'd never take out a brother when I did it. They told me at ArmyMed that I couldn't be a soldier anymore. The way my hand was damaged—it couldn't be fixed. So, I was 'retired' from the Army."

Rex wasn't sure what to say. He'd been so busy being caught up in his own misery on the journey here, he hadn't thought much about the stories of the others around him. Mako had already moved on to another topic, not seeming to be one to be caught up with feeling sorry for himself. He looked down at Rex's leg meaningfully, "I'm surprised they decommed _you_. You're Captain Rex of the 501st. You're practically a legend, sir, if you don't mind my saying so."

Rex shook his head, "I'm just another brother."

Mako snorted at this. "Just another brother. That's a good one, Captain. I can help you get your armor back on. Not sure if you'll be able to get all the pieces back on with your injuries."

"I'll wear it," Rex said, without hesitation, reaching for the plates. He'd spent enough time out of his armor when he was at ArmyMed. He wasn't leaving it off now. He needed the comforting familiarity of it. Well, that, and he had no idea what was waiting for them out on this unfamiliar planet. With Mako's help, he was quickly armored back up, with a minimal amount of discomfort. Another clone brought over Rex's crutches which he accepted with a wry look down at the despised things. "Thanks," he nodded gruffly to the trooper. He'd given anything to get rid of the frakkin' crutches, but he was stuck with them. Fully dressed, he allowed Mako to help him up to his feet. The bomb squad medic handed him his helmet, and once he had his bucket on, he felt complete again.

"Lance ordered me to stay with you," Mako said.

"Fine," Rex had to admit he could use the extra help at the moment. Ironic that he'd assigned Rex someone who could give him a "hand" that only had one hand, but Rex appreciated the help.

He commed Lance. "Keep me updated on Torch. I'm headed up to the cockpit to check on the pilots."

"Copy that."

Rex moved gingerly, as he made his way to the cockpit. He was trying to make the best time possible up to the cockpit, but it was difficult moving on his crutches with his injured shoulder and cracked ribs. He didn't want to show any weakness in front of the men. He could feel that Mako was just one step behind him, keeping a close eye on him. It was rather reassuring to know someone had his back again. Rex was just now realizing how much the isolation, and subsequent depression, he'd felt at ArmyMed had affected him.

 _Guess you never truly realize how depressed you've been, until you are no longer depressed,_ Rex mused, as he worked his way toward the cockpit.

Rex worked his way forward to the cockpit, watching for fallen debris in the darkened cabin. His bruises and fractures would heal with time. _I wasn't expecting such an eventful flight._ Rex thought, _But, still, this was a much more interesting day than the previous two days. Anything was better than that dreadful silence – even crashing._

The door to the cockpit was jammed from the crash, and wouldn't open.

Rex commed the two pilots, and opened up the comm so that he could include Mako on the link, "Chance, Odds, you guys OK up there?"

As Rex awaited their response, he remembered all his previous crashes, and how many times the pilots _didn't_ survive. The cockpits usually were crushed upon landing, whereas the passenger cabins had crumple zones. Rex tried the comm again, a sense of dread sinking in to the pit of his stomach.

"Chance, Odds, this is Captain Rex-"

"Hope we didn't shake you up too much back there?" interrupted Odds, oddly cheerful for someone who'd just crashed.

Rex breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Welcome to Ando. Or the moon of Ando," Chance interjected.

"We have now finished bounce-bounce-bouncing you to your final destination," added Odds.

"Glad you two survived the landing," Rex said. He tried to open the cockpit door. It was stuck. He signaled to Mako. "Give me a hand here."

Mako chuckled. "Is that a joke, sir?" But, he moved in next to Rex and they tried to open it together. It wouldn't budge.

"Chance, Odds, I can't open the hatch door from this side," Rex reported.

"Jammed from this side, too," said Odds. "maybe we could try crashing again, and see if it pops the door back open..."

"One crash was enough for me," Rex said. "I'll assign some troopers up here to work on getting you two out of there. I'm not sure we'll be flying this bucket anywhere soon."

"Are you implying we broke the ship, Captain?" Odds asked.

"I didn't break it," Chance said defensively, "my flying was just fine."

"Hey, are you saying _I_ broke the ship?" Odds said.

"Well, we _did_ crash."

"You've got a point brother. How are we ever going to get to Kamino, then?" asked Odds.

"Shab. We were all so looking forward to that," said Chance, sounding somewhat convincingly forlorn.

"Just sit tight, you two. We'll get you out as soon as we can," Rex signaled to Mako and the two of them moved on, making their way back to the forward cabin.

Rex commed Lance to let him know the pilots had survived the landing. He commed all the troopers to locate skilled volunteers to work on opening the cockpit door. Rex also got a team working on restoring power to the ship. Without knowing what was outside, they would need to rely on the heat, lights and food inside the ship for now. For now, they were dependent upon their headlamps, and their bodysuits for light and warmth.

"We need to make one short stop," Rex said to Mako, "I have a promise to fulfill."

Rex gingerly worked his way to the crew galley, and started bending down toward the conservator.

"Ahh," he stopped, clutching at his ribs, at the same time as Mako was trying to stop him.

"Sir! What are you doing? No stupid stuff! Remember? That's my job! Now, what do you need?" Mako carefully pushed Rex back into a full upright position. "You, OK, sir?" Rex nodded. Rex took a moment before answering. He was still seeing stars from bending down, and flaring up his fractured ribs.

"Bottles of water," Rex finally replied, pointing stiffly toward the conservator, "five of them."

Mako knelt down and retrieved the bottles, placing them up on the countertop, "Thirsty, sir?" He asked, eyeing the bottles.

Rex shook his head, still holding one hand across his ribs. "The men in the bio-beds."

"Ah," Mako said, as understanding dawned, "do you want me to-"

Rex shook his head, "I made a promise. Come on. We'll do it together."

Rex pushed off from the countertop and made to leave the galley.

Mako put one hand on Rex's arm to stop him. "Nothing stupid until you're healed up, alright? Look, I can't defuse bombs for my brothers any more, but if I can make myself useful around here, I'll still have a purpose. Does that make sense?"

"I understand. Yes, perfectly, Mako." Loss of purpose? Loss of self? Oh yes, Rex understood.

Working together, Rex and Mako began administering water to the men in the bio-beds. As they were working, one by one, other troopers wandered over and offered to help. Rex and Mako tossed them bottles of water. Soon, each one of the paralyzed men had someone by their side. It was amazing to see how the men in the bio-beds lit up when they were interacting with their brothers again. The transformation was remarkable, as their faces lit up with laughter again. They felt like men again, not discarded units sent for disposal.

Rex handed off his bottle of water to another brother standing nearby, said a few parting words to the clone he'd been speaking with, and then signaled to Mako.

Rex craned his neck, looking around.

"Who are you looking for, sir?" asked Mako.

"Lance. The medic who loves jamming clones with the pointy hypos," Rex continued to search for the red-striped medic.

"You feeling alright, sir?" Mako asked, instantly concerned, looking over at Rex.

" _I'm_ fine," Rex said. Mako rolled his eyes at Rex's signature response, "I wanted to see Torch."

"Ah, this way sir," Mako said, leading the way, "after he was injured, they made a place for him over in this corner. He's getting the best of care this old bucket can offer."

"Nothing much gets by you, does it?" Rex asked, glancing sideways at Mako.

Mako shrugged, and laughed, "Just trying to keep up with you, sir. Been an interesting day so far. Almost as fun as blowing things up."

"Almost?" Rex asked.

Mako began summarizing their day, like a storyteller recounting a favorite tale, "Well, blasting those pirates was great. IThen, we survived the crash. I'm just waiting to see how the rest of the day plays out."

"Hey Mako, did you suffer any brain damage in that explosion, by any chance?" asked Rex.

"Not that I know of sir, why do you ask?"

"Never mind," Rex said, shaking his head. They'd arrived in the corner where Lance was tending to Torch. Rex carefully eased himself down onto his good knee.

"How is he?" Rex asked, quietly.

"Not good," Lance responded, quietly, "he fractured his skull. He's got a severe concussion, and intracranial pressure is building."

"How long does he have?" Rex asked, knowing Lance had just given him a dire diagnosis.

"Unless we can get him to a med facility, Captain, less than a day," Lance said. "I've given him everything I can to try to contain the brain swelling. But, he needs surgery."

Rex put a hand on Torch's shoulder and made eye contact with Lance. "We're _not_ going to lose him."

"Alright, Captain, but what comes next? None of us are keen on going to Kamino and this ship can't fly anywhere. We didn't send out a distress call. So, what do we do now? Do you think anyone will come looking for us? Do we want them to come looking for us? Are we going to go so far as to hide our transponder signal?"

Lance's mind was lightning quick. Rex could see why he was such a good medic. He was always thinking two steps ahead.

Rex could feel how everything how quieted down around them, as everyone listened in on their conversation. They'd all been granted a temporary reprieve from their final destiny. But, how far were they going to take this thing? Would they hide their transponder signal and intentionally prevent a "rescue"?

 _Yes, where do we go from here?_ Rex paused for a moment to think, before replying.

"Power is out," Rex switched his comm so that everyone could hear him, "which means long-range communications are out. But, even before we lost power, we'd lost comms. Our comms have been scrambled since we entered this system. No one knows where we are. No one knows we engaged the pirates. And, no one knows we've crashed landed here...No one, that is, except the folks who attacked us in the first place. Not all of them boarded our ship. Some of them stayed behind on their ship, and those that did, panicked when we completely wiped out their boarding party. So, for the time being, we are completely on our own. While we wait for power to be restored, we can take this opportunity to venture outside and do a bit of recon. Those who wish to go out, meet me at the forward hatch in fifteen minutes. Full weapons. If you opt not to go out, then start assessing our resources. Figure out what we have onboard this ship."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the troopers said enthusiastically.

"Dismissed," he said, with a sigh.

"How are they coming with that door?" Rex asked.

"Ah, we're still locked up tighter than a Separatist blockade," said Odds, "nobody's getting in, and nobody's getting out."

Rex shook his head again, although he did have to admit the pilots were somewhat amusing.

Lance appeared by Rex's side, "You planning on heading outside in the snow, Captain?"

Rex eyed Lance warily, "Yes. Why?"

Lance sighed, and looked at Rex's crutches pointedly: "You really think that's a good idea with _those_ , plus your other injuries?"

There was no way Rex was staying behind in the safety of the ship, while he sent men out into unknown territory.

"Yes, well, I've got _him_ ," Rex said, jerking a thumb back toward Mako, "he's better than a good pair of legs, _any day_."

"Don't push yourself too far," Lance advised. His voice dropped low. "We need leadership. You're all we've got. So, take care, Captain. Understood?"

Rex nodded. "Message received."

Krek they were lucky they had a medic onboard the ship.

There was a large group of armored, and armed, troopers at the hatch leading to the outside. He signaled to Mako to activate the hatch and led the way out into the blindingly bright snowy world of the Andoan moon.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've ever been in an accident, you understand this strange sense of time disconnect Rex is describing. You can see something bad is coming at you, and everything strangely slows down. According to Psychology Today, this time-slow effect is a neurological trick which increases our chances of survival in emergency situations.


	31. Don't Forget Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 501st holds a brief remembrance ceremony for Rex.

Ahsoka stood on the bridge of the _Resolute_. Her Master was talking to General Kenobi. When had General Kenobi arrived back onboard? Her back ached and her feet tingled. She wasn't sure she could move if she wanted to. Just how long had she been standing there staring out at that window? She had no idea what her Master and Obi-Wan were discussing but her input didn't seem to be required.

After several failed attempts to contact the Kamino-bound medical transport, Ahsoka and her Master had petitioned the Jedi Council to send a Republic ship to try and intercept the vessel. The Council said they would take it "under advisement." Her Master told her to be patient, although she could sense tell he was having difficulties with this himself. General Kenobi had said basically the same thing, although he'd used a lot more words to say it. Her entire being was screaming at her to take action. She wanted to race down to the hanger deck, gather up a squad and chase down that ship. But, they were on the other side of the galaxy from Kamino. They couldn't make it in time to intercept the ship. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt powerless. The confidence that had always carried her through and allowed her to cope with being the padawan of the much talked about "Chosen One," seemed to have now abandoned her. So, she was mastering a new technique now. This was a technique she'd figured out on her own. It involved just shutting her mind down so that really couldn't feel much of anything at all. It was a bit different than Jedi meditation, which involved a lot of _thinking_. She was more mastering not thinking. And, until she got news about Rex, well, she was trying to avoid having her mind think about all the things that could be happening to him. So, when the voice whispered in her mind, it was so shockingly clear, and so distinctly _Rex_ that Ahsoka gasped out loud.

_"Don't forget me."_

And, with those three words, a window opened in her mind. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with feelings, sights and sounds. She could feel Rex's presence just as strongly as she had when they connected in the cave. Was he on Kamino? She couldn't tell. He was in pain and he knew he was about to die. But, there was also a sense of peace and calm to him as he reached out to Ahsoka.

_Don't forget me._

Rex sent Ahsoka all the feelings and emotions he couldn't express in words. She could feel his aching regret. There were many things he'd wanted to say to her in person but he'd always held himself back. He pushed the feelings at her now, letting her know she was much more than his commanding officer.

"No! Rex!"

Rex was dying. He couldn't breathe. Ahsoka could feel the way his chest and lungs were screaming with pain, as if it was her own pain. Blackness was rushing in on him. Rex was stepping toward another world and she was powerless to stop it.

"Rex!" Ahsoka cried out, trying to hold on to the tenuous thread between them. With a keening cry of anguish, Ahsoka slumped unconsciousness, falling forward headfirst toward the large transparisteel viewing window on the _Resolute._

# # #

Rex stood on the ramp and allowed his eyes a moment to adjust to the surroundings. "Krek, that's a lot of snow." The light from outside had seemed almost blinding after the darkness of the ship. Bright sunlight sparkled back off unbroken snow for as far as the eye could see.

He reached the end of the ramp and poked at the snow with the polyfibe tip of his crutches. The snow was soft on top but packed firm underneath. It seemed stable enough. "Alright, partner up and fan out. Do a threat assessment and report if you see anything of interest which can help with our survival. Move out."

"I'm staying with you," Mako said, sticking by his side.

"I figured as much," Rex said, although Mako's company was not unwelcome.

Rex had expected the weather to be biting and bitter, much like it had been on Orto Plutonia. But, the only thing Ando Second and Orto Plutonia had in common was snow. The weather on the Andoan moon was surprisingly temperate, as Ando and its' moons rotated around a single star. It was a sunny day, without any wind. It was pleasant to be outside again after being confined indoors for several weeks. The air temperature was comfortable enough, even without specialty snow armor. It probably got uncomfortably frigid at night, but for now, the climate was a lot better than Rex had expected for a snow planet.

Rex maneuvered carefully in the snow, wanting to be healed of his most recent injuries as quickly as possible, and not add any new ones. He just wanted to get a feel for the terrain. Eventually, Rex reached snow too deep to traverse any further. He used the magnification in his helmet to further analyze the terrain in every direction. All Rex could see in every direction were more snow-covered plains. Wait—off in the distance there—something dark on the horizon. Rex amplified his magnification as far as it could go.

He pointed out the object to Mako. "What do you think that is there?" Rex asked as he tried to adjust his magnification more clearly. It would be much easier if they had ground transportation so they could more easily explore this new terrain. But, they hadn't been properly outfitted for a mission. They were being sent to Kamino for disposal.

Mako perused off in the distance carefully. "Hard to say. But, it doesn't look it was made by the local inhabitants. It's too big. Too symmetrical. Might just be a rock formation."

Rex sighed. They'd need much better intel on the terrain if they were going to survive here.

He wasn't sure if it was to their advantage or not to avoid the locals. But, they would need to quickly secure fresh drinking water and more food if they were going to survive here. If they were fortunate enough to have any emergency rations in the front section of the ship, it would not be enough to feed a hundred clones for any substantial period of time. Rex opened up a com channel to the local group of clones. "This is the Captain. I'll need at least one scouting party to do a deeper exploration of the area."

# # #

Ahsoka awoke in the medical bay with her Master standing next to her, hands behind his back, quietly meditating. She looked around groggily, trying to figure out where she was, and what she was doing there.

"Wha… why…" she croaked out, in confusion. Her head was pounding.

"Easy, Snips," Anakin said, kindly, grabbing a cup of water off the side table. He held it up to her lips so she could take a sip.

Ahsoka nodded, her mind still drawing a blank as to how she had ended up here. General Kenobi walked in, accompanied by Commander Cody.

"Ah, you're awake," General Kenobi said kindly. Almost too kindly. Like he was talking to somebody that was fragile.

"You fainted on the bridge," Anakin explained.

She felt like there was something she should remember, but what could she be blocking out?

"Rex!" she shouted out with a gasp. She put a hand to her head, and suddenly remembering tumbling toward the transparisteel before being gently lifted back with the Force before she cracked her skull into the thing. "You caught me," she said simply.

Anakin nodded. "Did you have a vision?"

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths as everything came back to her. "He's gone. He... " She took a deep breath, trying to keep a hold of her emotions. She wasn't comfortable making eye contact with her Master so she looked at Cody. "He... reached out to me... I don't know how... He said... 'Don't forget me,' and then…" she swallowed, finding it difficult to get the words out, "he... uh… suffocated... -"

Cody's body stiffened. "Suffocated?" he repeated, looking puzzled. He frowned, trying to work through this piece of information. He muttered, almost to himself. "I thought they used injections..."

"The feelings were distinct," Ahsoka insisted. "Rex was in pain and then he couldn't breathe anymore." She sucked in another dragging breath, trying to hold it together. "I think he was saying goodbye."

Cody absorbed this and then bowed his head. The grief coming off of him was so thick Ahsoka could barely handle her emotions and what she could feel coming from the marshall commander. She was relieved when Cody beat a hasty retreat from the medbay after a quick respectful nod to the Jedi.

"I'll see to Cody," Obi-Wan said, turning to leave. He paused by the door, turning back to Anakin, who stood by Ahsoka's medbay bunk uncertain of what to do. "Anakin, go get your padawan some tea."

# # #

The remembrance ceremony for Rex was relatively brief but poignant. Anakin spoke first, sharing stories about Rex. Cody spoke next, very briefly, saying there had never been a finer brother. His throat clogged with emotion, he shook his head and then shoved his helmet back on as words failed him and went to stand beside his General. Fives made a surprisingly touching speech. The most serious and eloquent she'd ever heard from him and Jesse and Kix offered heartfelt tributes which had her blinking rapidly to hold back tears. She wanted to say what Rex had meant to her, too, but the pain was just too deep.

Cody walked briskly away after the ceremony was dismissed, headed full speed for the turbolift. She quickened her pace to join him.

"Cody?" she said to him in the quiet privacy of the turbolift voicing something that had been bothering her all day. A feeling maybe her earlier vision was flawed somehow. "What if I'm wrong? What if Rex is still alive?"

Cody was silent for a long moment as if choosing his words carefully. "We all want to believe Rex could still be alive. But, you were correct, Commander, he's gone."

"But, Force visions can be wrong. I shouldn't have said something. What-"

Cody gripped Ahsoka's arm, "Look, Commander, I didn't want to show you this, but, now I think you need to see it."

Ahsoka looked at Cody with confusion, unsure what he was trying to say. Cody tapped several times on his wrist pad to call up data and then projected a 3-D image.

"The ship Rex was on never arrived at Kamino. Generals Kenobi and Skywalker sent a ship outside of the Council's approval. They retraced the ship's route. They found this…" Cody called up images of wreckage and debris floating in space. "They confirmed that the debris came from the hull of the Kamino-bound troop transport. It was Rex's ship, Commander. His ship was destroyed en-route. Looks like the work of pirates. So, your original vision was correct. Rex is gone."

Ahsoka stared at the images, trying to get her emotions under control.

She closed her eyes, trying to take heart in what she'd learned at the Temple as a youngling.

Death _is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force._

So, why did this still feel so wrong?

The lift stopped and the doors opened. Cody walked out, turning to look back at Ahsoka. He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head abruptly and walked away.

# # #


	32. Anakin and Obi-Wan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin seeks some life advice from his old Master.

Early mornings were always one of Anakin's favorite times aboard the _Resolute_. The clones were always up by 0600 and the ship was staffed around the clock. But, there was different energy early in the day. He had back-to-back strategy meetings later this morning, but this early morning time was his own for working out. Obi-Wan had volunteered to spar with him; an offer he gladly accepted.   
  
They'd already been sparring for 30 minutes. Both were breathing heavily and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Anakin sent Obi-Wan a mental tap across their link, signaling he'd like to call for a short breather. Obi-Wan stepped back and deactivated his lightsaber. Anakin did the same, bowing in deference to his former Master. Anakin stripped off his workout shirt, tossed it aside, then grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink. He sank down onto the sparring mat and started stretching out his muscles. Obi-Wan stayed standing, stretching out using a freeform kata.

After a long moment, Obi-Wan stopped and glanced down at him. "Alright, out with Anakin. You obviously have something on your mind."

"Ahsoka is very upset about Rex," Anakin started. He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. It was getting too long and stood up now in untidy spikes since it was sweaty. "I feel his loss, too, we all do. But, I don't understand how they were able to connect to each other. That's unusual with a non-Force sensitive, isn't it?"

"It is," Obi-Wan conceded, "but they have worked closely together for some time. You did assign your Captain to always keep a close eye on your padawan. Give her some time. This has all come as a shock."

"It has," Anakin conceded. He paced irritability back and forth across the mat, too much energy pent up in his lanky frame to hold still for long. He stepped away from Obi-Wan several paces to allow a safe distance between them and then launched himself into a complex kata. "There still seems something off about Ahsoka's reaction. I don't know quite how to explain it." Anakin launched himself into a dizzying series of moves, and then lit his saber and did the moves again.

Obi-Wan engaged in an even more complex kata and gave Anakin a slightly quirky grin. Anakin huffed in annoyance and tried to copy his movements with perfect precision.

"The answer is quite clear, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, "and you're missing the third move. See? Bend your knees more and the arms will naturally follow." Obi-Wan lit his saber and ran through the moves again.

Anakin tried the moves again, picking up the pace. His hair was plastered to his head now with sweat, and his lightsaber hummed dangerously close to Obi-Wan several times. "What are you trying to say?"

Obi-Wan shot Anakin a look of annoyance as Anakin's lightsaber came dangerously close to decapitating him. "Anakin! That is not how you get ahead!"

Anakin snorted and deactivated his lightsaber. "Funny." He grabbed his water bottle and a towel. "So," Anakin prompted, breathless now from his exertions, "what is it you were trying to tell me about my padawan?"

"Only that her feelings toward Rex should have been apparent after she _carried_ the Captain halfway across TriLuna, rather than leave him behind."

Anakin's mouth dropped open and he dropped his water bottle. Obi-Wan caught it with the Force and called it to his hand and then smacked it back into Anakin's palm. "Here, I think you dropped this, padawan."

"Former padawan," Anakin grumbled automatically. "Carried him?"

"Well, yes, think about it Anakin," Obi-Wan said, as he calmly resumed his kata, "There's no other way they could've gotten to that cave on the hillside where we met up with them. You saw what kind of condition he was in."

"Yes, but, why would-"

Obi-Wan stopped what he was doing, and turned to face Anakin, "Isn't it obvious, Anakin? Because she refused to leave him behind." He waited while Anakin worked it all through in his mind. Obi-Wan watched while the emotions flitted across Anakin's face.

"Are you saying Ahsoka had _feelings_ for Captain Rex?" Anakin asked, looking shocked that such a thing was even possible. "But, she's only-"

Anakin paused, trying to remember how old his padawan was exactly.

"She's almost 15 now, Anakin," Obi-Wan said patiently. 

"Already?" Anakin frowned, wondering how his padawan was growing up so fast.   
  
"Yes, Anakin, really, you need to keep better track of your padawan. Just give her some space to grieve."  
  
"You think that's all this is?" Anakin asked, feeling relieved. He was hoping Obi-Wan would offer some counsel when he'd asked him to spar this morning, and his old Master hadn't disappointed. For his own part, he hadn't allowed himself to stop and think much about the loss of Rex. It didn't seem real. Even though he was the one who'd suggested the remembrance ceremony for the sake of Ahsoka and the rest of their command, Rex did not _feel_ dead to him. It was hard to explain. So, he was dealing with it by not thinking about it. But, there was the issue of his padawan who obviously was thinking about Rex. A great deal.

"I'm not sure how far their relationship went," Obi-Wan clarified, "but, she obviously cared for him a great deal."

"Relationship?" Anakin scoffed. "You mean, friendship. Attachments are forbidden under the Jedi code," Anakin objected, the words sounding hollow, even as he said them.

"Yes, they are," Obi-Wan agreed, "and, yet, they happen anyway, don't they?"

Anakin folded his arms across his bare chest, suddenly very uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. "What do you mean?"

"When it comes to attachments, you've had your share of difficulties. It is the whole reason Master Yoda wanted you to have a padawan. You must learn to let go. Ahsoka must learn this lesson, as well, just as all the Jedi before her have done. We all struggle with attachment, Anakin. It's not wrong to have feelings. It is how you act upon them that defines you as a Jedi." Obi-Wan extended his lightsaber, and assumed the ' _en garde'_ position, engaging Anakin into a parry. He quickly forced Anakin onto the defensive with several well-placed thrusts.

Anakin threw himself into a complex aerial flip and came around behind his old Master, forcing Obi-Wan to spin quickly to parry his blade.

"Try giving her some space. Some time to heal. She'll come around," Obi-Wan advised, somewhat breathless now, from the aggressive, rapid pace of their sparring.

All conversation ceased as they focused intently now on their sparring. Anakin enjoyed sparring with Obi-Wan. While Anakin had raw talent and power, Obi-Wan had great finesse as a swordsman. "Oh, and Anakin," Obi-Wan prompted, pinning him with a surprise move Anakin had never seen before, "you can always still come to me, as well. My door will always be open to you, padawan."

"Former padawan," Anakin grumbled, figuring out a way to unpin himself and gain the upper hand again.


	33. Scouts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex leaned back against the ship to take the weight off his crutches. He was getting tired, but the day had turned out very differently than he'd expected. He glanced at the chrono on his bucket.
> 
> If not for the pirates, we'd be touching down in Kamino at this time.
> 
> He tried to imagine what that fate would've been like to be processed through Kamino, along with the hundred other clones on the ship. Would they have exterminated us right away, or made it a long, drawn-out process?
> 
> Fate is a strange thing.
> 
> He wasn't sure how much he believed in the mystical side of the Force, that is, that there was something out there that guided and surrounded all living things. It had seemed to him in the past that whatever that thing was, it only favored Jedi. However, more and more, that mystical thing seemed to be affecting him, too.

"Captain, sir, what's your location? My brothers and I want to volunteer for scouting duty." The trooper's voice came through clearly on Rex's comm, if a bit louder than usual.

Rex glanced at the trooper's info coming across his HUD. CT-4356. A HUD only usually offered up the barest of info. But, he was glad for the help.

"I'm outdoors doing a bit of recon. I'll meet you at the base of the ramp," Rex replied. He made a quick hand gesture to Mako, indicating he was headed back to the ship.

The fresh air and time outdoors had gone him a lot of good. The Andoan moon was proving to be a pleasant surprise. Unless the place was hiding predatory snow creatures, this may not be a bad place to hold up for a while. Although, that was assuming they could find a source of fresh food. They could melt snow for water, for now, but a freshwater source would be much better for meeting the needs of so many clones. His mind continued to work through the logistics of keeping the troopers alive as he carefully found his footing. It was exhausting maneuvering through the snow, but it was the good kind of tired. His arm muscles ached from supporting his full weight on his crutches, but he'd put in extra workouts while at ArmyMed. He had the upper body strength to support himself.

Rex arrived back at the crashed ship and studied the hull damage while he waited for the scouts. "This bird is not going anywhere, no matter how much work we put into it." He studied the landscape again critically. "We'll need to figure out how to survive here." He tugged off his helmet so he could mop sweat off his brow. The fans in his helmet were having a tough time keeping up with the exertion of maneuvering through the snow.

Mako studied the wreck with a critical eye. "Granted, my expertise is making things come apart. However, even with the damage, the ship is still viable as a shelter. At least until we can come up with something more long-term."

Rex nodded thoughtfully. "Not a lot of space for one hundred clones."

Mako huffed. "We clones are rarely offered the luxury of much space. Won't matter much."

"For a demolitions expert, you're something of an optimist."

"You should hear our bomb squad humor. We-" Mako stopped and shook his head. "That doesn't matter much anymore, I suppose. I'm not sure I was much good at what I did, all things considered." He tucked his stump of a hand self-consciously behind his back.

Rex wanted to say something to Mako. His injury and what happened after wasn't his fault. Alright, Rex still blamed himself for not being fast enough to dodge that shot on Tri-Luna. But, their conversation was interrupted the arrival of the scouting volunteers. Mako made a gesture with his chin, indicating they had company. Four clones moved briskly toward them in the snow, coming back with other clones who'd already starting checking the area. They showed no outward signs of injury and moved with the easy grace of a healthy clone.

"Trooper CT-4356. Friends call me Hok." Rex recognized him immediately as the trooper who'd messaged him earlier; the one who spoke too loudly. Hok pointed to the other troops next to him. "This is Jagger, Saber, and Flex. We served together in the same squadron, out of the 38th Armored Division, Combat Engineer Division."

"How did four troopers from the same squad end on this transport?"

"Our AT-TE took a bad hit by some high-powered ordinance. We survived, many others didn't."

Rex needed to know why four seemingly healthy clones were on this transport. Fek. What was the GAR thinking? "How did you end up here?" he pointed back to the crashed Kamino-bound transport.

Hok's voice grew heavy. "The concussive force was so severe that it blew out all of our eardrums. Our other injuries were healable bacta, but not the ears, though. All of us—since that day-we're completely deaf." Hok waited, as if daring Rex to declare him unfit for duty.

Rex knew that look. He also knew that feeling. He'd felt exactly the same way when he was told he wasn't fit to be in the Republic Army anymore. Rex shook his head. "You and your brothers are welcome here, Hok. Is there anything I can do to make things easier to accommodate for your hearing loss?" He made a point of looking directly at Hok when he spoke. He wasn't sure if the clone could read lips, but most clones were very quick to adapt to new situations.

Hok paused. The question obviously caught him off-guard. "Accommodate us?"

Mako stared at Rex, as well, as if he'd lost his mind. It was not the way they had been raised. Defective clones were thrown away, not accommodated.

Rex looked back at the crashed ship and out at the vast snowy landscape. "We clones are on our own here. We will watch out for each other."

Hok was quiet as he took in Rex's words. He nodded thoughtfully. "Understood. So far, we've been getting by alright by cranking up the acoustic amplifiers on our buckets. We can make out most of what you're saying and then try to infer the rest of it. When we communicate just the four of us, we use our compads for text a great deal." He pointed to his brothers. "We've also been adding a lot to the number of hand signals we usually use. It's a more efficient way for us to communicate as a team."

Rex made a mental note to up the audio output in his bucket in the event there were other hearing-impaired clones in their group and increase the number of hand signals he used. "I'd like you to teach me these additional hand signals you've developed when we have the time. Alright, have you done any scouting work before?"

All four clones nodded. "Yes," Hok answered, "we scouted for the 38th."

"Excellent, your experience will come in handy. We need a better feel for the terrain. I'd like you to head out further from the ship than the troopers looking around nearby here. This moon is supposed to be populated, so let me know if you spot some settlements. Observe only, do not engage. And, keep in radio contact, so I know you haven't been swallowed up by the local wildlife. Keep in mind, the weather could turn quickly. We don't have ground transport, so don't go so far that we can't get to you in an emergency."

"Understood. We'll keep in regular contact," Hok saluted sharply, signaled to his team and they headed off in the snow, communicating with hand signals as they went.

"Official scouts, now? Our Andoan Legion is coming together," Mako mused, tugging his canteen from his belt, shaking it to check the amount of water before handing it over to Rex.

"Andoan Legion?" Rex huffed with amusement, taking a small sip of water. Until they set up facilities to melt snow for water, everything would need to be rationed. He handed the canteen back.

"An _independent_ clone Legion. First of its' kind," Mako said with a teasing tone.

Mako pulled out a rations bar, split it and handed over the other half. Rex leaned back against the ship to take the weight off his crutches. He chewed slowly so he wouldn't need any water to wash the rations bar down. to take the weight off his crutches. He was getting tired, but the day had turned out very differently than he'd expected. He glanced at the chrono on his bucket. If not for the pirates, we'd be touching down in Kamino at this time. He tried to imagine what that fate would've been like to be processed through Kamino, along with the hundred other clones on the ship. Would they have exterminated us right away, or made it a long, drawn-out process? Fate is a strange thing. He wasn't sure how much he believed in the mystical side of the Force, that is, that there was something out there that guided and surrounded all living things. It had seemed to him in the past that whatever that thing was, it only favored Jedi. However, more and more, that mystical thing seemed to be affecting him, too.

"You've gotten awfully quiet," Mako prompted, finishing up his rations bar and handing the canteen back over. "You thinking about Kamino?"

Rex refused the water. "Yeah, Mako, I am."

"Me, too. I didn't think I was going to survive this day, and even if I still don't, it's been a much better day than I expected. I have no regrets."

Rex huffed out a quiet laugh. "There you go again all that cheery optimism. Let's head back inside and get back to work."

"We've _been_ working," Mako objected, "just outdoors here where it's sunny and remarkably pleasant for a snow planet."

"Glad you like it," Rex said, "I'm headed in." He pushed up and then hissed as a spike of pain shot through his injured leg. He stood still, breathing deeply.

"You're in pain. Is it your leg injury? Is it bothering you?" Mako asked immediately.

Rex shook his head. The stabbing spike of pain was already ebbing away. "No. I'm fine. Come on, we have work to do."

Rex and Mako rounded up troopers, both from outside the ship, and those who were still inside the ship. Rex assigned all able-bodied clones into work teams, with simple names like Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, etc. Rex considered anyone who could move at all as being "able-bodied." He was trying to figure out a way to put the four paraplegics to work, so they could not only contribute for the greater good but also feel like valued contributors to the team. Rex knew all too well how devastating it was to feel unwanted, unneeded, and unvalued. He didn't want a single brother onboard to feel that way.

Rex assigned Alpha Team to search through the lockers in the forward cabin for any usable emergency gear. Fortunately, most of this gear was usually stored in the front of the ship and not in a portion of the ship which had been sheered off. He assigned Beta Team to figure out if there was a manifest of troopers onboard, and if not, come up with a roster. (Rex realized, with a slight twinge of guilt, that this information might have been contained on the R4 unit he so happily destroyed.) He assigned another team to inventory the supply of food and water in the galley, and then figure out a rationing schedule, based upon the number of people on board.

Restoring power to the ship was a top priority to make it more habitable as a shelter. But, first he needed to send a few clones out to make sure the damage to the ship wouldn't place those working on the power circuits at risk. Logistics and problem-solving came easily to him. He worked through step after step and continued to assign clones to tasks as they came up to him looking for jobs to do.

The team he'd dubbed Beta made quick work of assembling a partial crew roster. Rex looked it over and started making notes on it, trying to get a better feel for the troopers stranded here with him. Their survival would depend upon each other.

"Here you go, sir. You looked like you could use this," one of the troopers assigned to the kitchen held out a steaming mug of instant caf and a rations bar to Rex. "I'm Hodges, by the way."

"Rex," he accepted the caf and refused the rations bar. Without knowing how much food they had onboard, he was reluctant to take too much of it.

"We all know who _you_ are," Hodges responded, "no need for introductions."

Rex took a long dreg of the caf. Krek that was good. He was surprised there was any onboard. "How do you did heat up the caf?"

"Tek has restored partial power. Some parts of the ship are partially operational, but main power is still offline."

"Tek?" Rex didn't think this name had been added to his partial roster yet.

"He's from my battalion, A pure genius," Hodges said enthusiastically. "He can wire just anything together."

Rex tossed down the last of his caf, enjoying the way it burned as it went down and the familiar feel of energy kicking back up in his system. He slid his helmet back on, his caf scented breath recirculating now in his bucket. It was a familiar smell and comforting in its own way. He gestured to Hodges. "I'd like to meet this Tek. Talk to him about the ship's power."

As if in response, the lights flickered on briefly, causing everyone inside to cheer, and then immediately went out again, causing a collective groan of disappointment.

From the back of the ship, someone shouted: "Pipe down, all of you. I'm working on it!"

Hodges and Rex carefully maneuvered their way around clones working on every part of the ship, trying to transform it into a usable shelter. Their way was temporarily blocked by a crew busily pulling out all of the contents from one of the storage lockers which had nearly taken Rex's head off in the crash. All of the bundles were tightly wrapped, but they were labeled with bright yellow and red emergency symbols.

"What do we have with regards to emergency gear?" Rex asked, trying to identify the different bundles. They were much older issue than what was usually used on a LAAT.

A clone poked his head out of the locker. "Ah, hello Captain, I'm... Price. Some of the emergency gear was damaged in the explosion. The rest of it is old, outdated and reeks worse than a wet Bantha. But, it's sturdy enough stuff. We can use it. We've got some tents and blankets, a few medpacs, and a few weird plastene items we haven't been able to identify yet. We definitely don't have enough outdoor gear for everyone, so we'll have to divvy folks up between outdoors and indoors. I'll transmit the final inventory list to you as soon as we're done. It shouldn't be much longer."

Rex quickly consulted his HUD for average nightly temperatures on the Andoan moon. The temperature plummeted quickly at night. It was going to be a challenge to stay warm once the sunset. "Alright, as long as the emergency tents seal tight, and the heaters in our suits are in good working order, we'll be fine, even with the temperatures dropping at night. Make sure that any clones who opt to sleep outside don't have any injury that affects the seal of their suit. If we can't identify this other material," he pointed to the unidentified packs of blue plastene bundles, "we can likely use that to seal up the inside of the ship so it holds heat better." He turned to Mako. "Find me some volunteers to help get the ship ready for nightfall."

"Understood," Mako said, "our Andoan Legion is taking shape very nicely, Captain." The pleasure in his voice was unmistakable. He headed off to round up more clones for work detail.

Rex shook his head.

"Andoan Legion," Price murmured behind him. Inside an hour, the name had spread to all one hundred clones.

# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because there are a hundred clones in the Andoan Legion, there are a number of clones introduced in these first couple of chapters after they touch down. Don't worry too much about keeping track of the names. If a character will be coming up consistently in the story, I'll offer up reminders in the text of who they are, (i.e. "Hok, the scout leader" or "Mako, the demolitions expert.")


	34. That wire goes there

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By the time he returned, from distributing water to the paralyzed men, he could hear the conversation a heated conversation between Mako's soft voice and Tek's more belligerent replies.
> 
> "Don't cross those two, it'll blow up."
> 
> "How do you know?"
> 
> "Bomb squad, remember? I'm an expert in things that go boom. Keep those wires separate. Now, try re-wiring this one here and this one here and then see if they'll hold a charge."
> 
> "Alright, I'm doing it."
> 
> "Less yacking and more wiring."

Hodges led Rex to the furthest point back in the ship. They could go no further as the ship was crumpled from the landing at this point, the metal bent from the impact. Several clones were clustered in back, working together on the wiring.

A pair of booted feet was barely visible, upside down, plunged deep inside an access hatch, shouting back up the hatch for tools. "I need a servo!"

"Servo coming down," responded a second clone leaning precariously down to hand off the requested tool. He straightened up again as he noticed the newcomers. "Hello, Captain!" He studied Mako. "I don't know you. Yet."

"Mako." The two quickly crossed arms trooper style in greeting.

"And, you are?" Rex prompted, determined to memorize as many names of the men from the crashed ship as possible. He prided himself on knowing every trooper under his command in the 501st, even if it did take a bit of time to sometimes get to know the shinies- He immediately tamped down thoughts of the 501st. It was too painful to think of them. Fek. He missed them.

"Friends call me Tank," the trooper said, his voice so chipper and optimistic he could give Mako a run for the credits. Except... this trooper would do no running. He was missing his right leg from just below the hip socket on down. He was leaning against the hatch, handing tools down to the booted figure, deep inside the hatch.

"Hydrospanner coming up. Do we have a collimator beam focuser?" called the voice from inside the hatch.

"A what now?" Tank called back down.

Mako pointed inside the box of tools. "That one. I think he wants to use it as a static pulse adaptor."

Tank picked up the requested tool. "Oh, one of these things. Right. Same thing we use to realign the crystal housings in our blasters." He handed the requested tool down into the hatch. "You could've just said so." Tank pulled up the hydrospanner and replaced it back into the box of tools sitting next to him. "We're making good progress, Captain. We should have power restored-"

"Ow! Krek!" There was some dramatic sparking from within the hatch.

"You alright down there, trooper?" Rex asked.

"Who the fek is asking?" demanded the trooper, coughing a bit, through the smoke filling the hatch.

"Eh, that would be Captain Rex," Tank called back down.

"Shab!" Tek shimmied back out of the access hatch. The pair of feet slowly worked their way back out of the hatch revealing a clone dressed in the distinctive green camo armor of the 41st Elite Corps. "Apologies, Captain, sir. I meant no disrespect-"

Rex put up a hand to forestall any further apologies. "Not to worry. Technically I'm an ex-Captain now." Gah. Why did it hurt to say that so much?

"Begging your pardon," Tank interjected, "but you're not an ex-anything to us. You're all we have, Captain."

Something changed in Rex, then. A sense of being needed again. Something which had been taken away by ArmyMed and his decommissioning. Maybe getting back to the 501st was an impossible dream. But, for now, at least, he had a purpose. It was something to live for again. "You have each other, all of you," Rex insisted, looking back and forth between the troopers. "I take it you're this electronics and wiring genius known as Tek?"

"No one has ever accused me of being a genius before," he looked over at Hodges. "Your doing, I assume, vod."

Hodges shrugged non-committally. He handed Tek a rations bar and water bottle. "You look like you could use this a bit of a break."

Tek tugged his helmet off. The right side of his face was scarred from what looked to be an explosion, and one of his eyes was translucent, and scarred all around. He also had some new, more recent burns on his face, likely from all the electrical sparking that happened when he rewired the ship. He was missing some fingers on his right hand, and wasn't wearing armor on either hand. His hands had also suffered some electrical burns. "Thanks, vod," he said accepting the food and water. He tore the bar in half and handed off the other piece to Tank.

"What happened down there?" Rex asked, pointing down in the hatch, where the smoke was still clearing.

"Eh..." Tek looked a bit sheepish. "... I got frustrated and decided to see if I could take a shortcut with the wiring."

"Trust me, vod. That never works," Mako said, his voice quietly reflective.

"And you are?" Tek demanded.

"Mako. I used to work bomb squad."

"Ah," Tek finished up his half of the rations bar and washed it down with a swig of water. He handed the rest of the bottle off to Tank. "I could probably use your opinion down in the hatch. Be a real tight fit with two, but we could probably figure it out together."

"Captain, if you could spare me for a few minutes," Mako said.

"By all means, Mako, we need the power restored. I'm going to check in on the men in the bio-beds."

He left Mako to go shimmy down into the hatch with Tek.

By the time he returned, from distributing water to the paralyzed men, he could hear the conversation a heated conversation between Mako's soft voice and Tek's more belligerent replies.

"Don't cross those two, it'll blow up."

"How do you know?"

"Bomb squad, remember? I'm an expert in things that go boom. Keep those wires separate. Now, try re-wiring _this_ one here and this one here and then see if they'll hold a charge."

"Alright, I'm doing it."

"Less yacking and more wiring."

The lights blinked on and then off and then came back on and stayed on. A cheer went up amongst all the clones on the ship.

Hodges wooped and called down the hatch.

"Nice job Tek! You did it again! Always saving our arses ye' are."

"Wasn't me, this time. Bomb squad Mako here knows his wires."

Mako shimmied his way back out of the hatch. "Eh, well, I wouldn't mind being out of the whole bomb squad business. It's nice doing something else useful for a change. You know, like saving brothers."

Tek worked his way back up the hatch, bringing the rest of the tools back up with him.

"Well done, both of you," praised Rex, "I didn't think we'd get the ship back online so quickly."

"It was a team effort," Tek said, nodding his chin toward Mako and Hodges. "and I'm grateful for the assist. Two of the guys in the bio-beds are from my corps, the 41st Elite. Those beds can't remain offline for more than a few hours before they fail completely. There was a lot riding on getting the power going again."

Rex had no idea about the bio-beds. There was so much more he needed to learn about this unique set of brothers. He reached over to Tek and lifted up his hands, noticing the fresh burn marks. "I assume these are from the initial sparking we saw before. Track down the medic and get these burns treated."

"I'll walk him over," volunteered Tank. The two clones headed off, leaving Rex and Mako alone. With the lights on, Rex could finally see the full extent of the damage to the interior. He studied the crumpled back section with a critical eye. He shook his head and swore.

"What is it, Captain?" Mako asked.

"Just wish we had more resources here other than a half-destroyed ship. Maybe some sort of transportation or better defensive capabilities. Those pirates may come back to take revenge."

"Ah," Mako said, "yes, we may have angered them just a bit."

"If they start gunning for us here on the ground, I don't like the idea of being stuck here immobile."

Mako shrugged. "I suppose we'll just have to come up with a good defensive strategy, then. We do have the combined wisdom of clones from all across the GAR, and, of course, we have you."

Rex huffed with amusement and shook his head. "More of your cheery optimism. Gah. Those Kaminoans must have had a real sense of humor assigning you to demolitions. Come on, let's go check on the pilots and then we're going to talk more about this idea of yours. It's actually a very good one."

"It is?"

"Yes, Mako. You've got a lot of very good ideas. I'm just glad you're on our side."

# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A fun little history on the character of Mako. After I originally introduced this character in 2010, one of the early readers named their new puppy after him. So, somewhere over in the U.K., there is a sweet-natured, floppy-eared, brown pup named Mako.


	35. Rex has a vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka followed, trailing once again, several steps behind them, like a ghost. It was as if she was there, but also not there at the same time. It all seemed familiar and surreal at the same time. It was the Resolute but nothing about it was right. He'd never seen Ahsoka behave in such a fashion. This was not the Ahsoka he knew.
> 
> "Little'un, what's happened to you?" Rex said, anguished, in the privacy of his helmet.
> 
> Ahsoka's head snapped up, and she stopped dead in her tracks.
> 
> "Rex?" she said, her eyes wide open with hope, fear and anguish.
> 
> Rex felt his heart slam inside his chest.
> 
> "Ahsoka?" Rex reached a hand out toward her, suddenly feeling as if he could-

The two troopers assigned to opening the door to the cockpit had given up on springing the latch manually.

"The door was frame was bent during the crash, Captain," explained the first trooper, who identified himself as Shadow, a member of 5th Fleet Security. As with Hok and the others, Rex could see no obvious signs of injury on Shadow. And unlike his new scouts, Shadow's voice wasn't any louder than normal.

"We're just going to have to force the door," explained the second clone, who'd identified himself as Drax. Drax's armor had dramatic rust-red stripes from shoulder bell to forearm, identifying him as a member of the 55th Mechanized Brigade.

Rex studied the latch and then scanned the doorframe with his HUD. "Frame's bent. Probably what is preventing the release from springing. You been checking in with the pilots?"

Shadow snorted. "They haven't shut up since we got here."

"Alright, they've been trapped in there for a while." He waved to Drax and Shadow to proceed. "Go on and break the door. We need to get them out."

Drax was missing a hand, just as Mako was, but it didn't seem to deter him from his efforts to break down the cockpit door. He'd found a variety of tools, and was working to pry the doors open. Shadow took a more direct approach and used a sheered-off piece of the ship as a bludgeoning tool to attack the latch with great gusto. Rex added these two clones to his roster, making a note that Shadow seemed unusually strong, even by clone standards.

The noise level from Shadow's hammering was tremendous. Rex switched his helmet settings to filter out the background noise, and used his helmet comm to radio the two pilots, "Chance, Odds, how are you two holding up?"

"Captain Rex, it's Chance, good to hear your voice. I think we both wouldn't mind a change of scenery, but we're holding steady. No worries, sir."

"Speak for yourself, I haven't been able to get a wink of sleep with all this bang, bang, banging," complained Odds. "You know, we clones need our beauty sleep."

"Just hang tight, we'll have you out in no time," Rex said.

He took several steps away to remove himself from the worst of the noise and leaned back against the bulkhead while he made a few more notes in his HUD.

Krek, he was starting to get tired now and feeling the effects of not enough sleep, not enough food, and having gotten injured in the crash. He closed his eyes behind his bucket for a brief second to recoup his strength, thinking Chance and Odds reminded him of some of the boys back in the 501st. Hardcase was always making wisecracks, and Fives loved to egg him on. Thoughts of the 501st once again brought a twisting stab of pain to Rex's gut. Don't think about the 501st. Don't think about the 501st….

Rex tried to block out thoughts of the 501st, but he couldn't. Before he could stop them, he was assaulted with images.

But, it was much more than just a memory. He could clearly see his brothers from the 501st on the deck of the Resolute. It was like he was there. For the moment, it seemed more real than the hammering on the cockpit door that was happening just a few meters away. His men were all there. No, not quite all of them. Some were missing since he'd left for ArmyMed. A good majority of them were there, though. Rex saw each of their faces and recognized all of their distinctive armor markings. The sight of them caused Rex's gut to hitch so painfully it was hard to breathe. And, then that little hitch turned into a full-on double-punch when the doors swished open and… in walked Skywalker, Appo and the commander. She looked so different. Gone was the bouncing, over-enthusiastic, difficult-to-contain padawan that he'd been watching out for since her first cocky appearance on Christophsis. Her energy was just so different. She walked slowly, several steps behind Skywalker, rather than bouncing by his side. The energy of the men was different, too. They'd been talking amongst themselves before their commanding officers came in, but it wasn't the usual high-pitched laughter and banter. The conversations were quiet and subdued. It was as if all of the energy had gone out of the 501st.

The men formed up into two perfectly straight lines and listened while their General addressed them. It was some sort of logistics on an upcoming engagement. Ahsoka stood deathly quiet, not contributing anything. If she had a thought or opinion on anything her Master was saying, she didn't voice it or let her emotions show on her face. She put her hands behind her back and gazed impassively out at the men. She was the perfect vision of a quiet and humble padawan. Perfect, that is if one didn't know that such behavior ran entirely contrary to the essence that was the commander. Ahsoka always had something to chime in during any sort of briefing. She was known for her outspoken opinions. But, now she was silent.

When the briefing was over, Appo and Skywalker walked away, continuing on with their earlier conversation. It was clear they were discussing tactics for an upcoming mission. Rex could make out just bits of it. He didn't recognize the name of the planet they were talking about or even this new enemy they were talking about confronting. A new Separatist ally maybe? Who were they going to fight and why hadn't he heard of them before? Odd.

Ahsoka followed, trailing once again, several steps behind them, like a ghost. It was as if she was there, but also not there at the same time. It all seemed familiar and surreal at the same time. It was the Resolute but nothing about it was right. He'd never seen Ahsoka behave in such a fashion. This was not the Ahsoka he knew.

"Little'un, what's happened to you?" Rex said, anguished, in the privacy of his helmet.

Ahsoka's head snapped up, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Rex?" she said, her eyes wide open with hope, fear and anguish.

Rex felt his heart slam inside his chest.

"Ahsoka?" Rex reached a hand out toward her, suddenly feeling as if he could-

"I think I can lever the door. Come help me Shadow!" Drax's voice cut into Rex's mind, snapping him back to the reality of the crashed ship on the ice planet.

Rex stumbled and grasped for purchase against the bulkhead, disoriented and off-balance. His one good leg struggled to compensate and keep him upright.

"Easy, sir, I got you," Rex heard the deep rumbly baritone of Shadow. "You almost pitched forward face first. You're lucky I saw it. You got bashed around pretty good when we crashed. Maybe you shouldn't be up and about."

Drax pulled down a nearby jumpseat. "Right, there you go. Nice and comfy. The Republic's finest plastifoam."

Rex sank down into the seat, letting his crutches fall down to the floor with a clatter. He sank rested his head back for a moment, taking a deep breath. Mako appeared by his side. "Captain, you overdid it, huh? I'll get the medic-"

Rex gripped Mako's arm to hold him back before he could go any further. "No need. Just lost my balance is all." He waved off Shadow and Drax. "You can get back to what you were doing. Thanks for the assist."

Mako looked at Rex critically. "I'll see if I can find you something to eat in the galley. Stay here until I get back."

Rex had no intentions of moving just yet. He wasn't feeling all that great and welcomed a few moments to himself to absorb what had just happened.

What the hell was that? he wondered. Did I really just see Ahsoka? Did she just -

"Captain Rex?" said Chance, his voice cutting in on Rex's helmet comm.

Rex took a moment to compose himself before replying. His voice was calm and back to his Captain-in-charge voice when he responded: "Yes, Rex here."

"There's something I think you should know," Chance continued, "Right before we went down, Odds and I caught a glimpse of that pirate cruiser. They definitely took some damage, but curse the bastards, it didn't look as bad as what happened to our hull. They were headed toward the other moon, on the dark side of Ando Prime. I think it's referred to as Ando-1."

Rex absorbed this information for a moment, "Must be their base of operations. Would make sense with the timing of when and how they ambushed us."

"Odds and I have been discussing the ambush and that's what we figured as well. The way we see it, they are probably none too pleased about the way we completely took out their landing party. From the point where they originally attacked us, it wouldn't take much for them to track us down to our crash site."

"You're saying we should likely expect some company, then?" Rex prompted.

"That's our assessment," Chance said.

"I've been thinking the same. We'll make sure we're prepared. Thanks, Chance. Rex out."

Mako returned from the galley with water and a rations bar. "Sorry, Captain. They didn't stock this ship with much. Not sure the comfort of us clones was foremost in their minds when they sent us to Kamino. Although I suppose we should be grateful they put anything in there."

Considering we're decommissioned clones.

Mako didn't say it, but it was implied.

Rex tugged off his bucket and quickly downed the water. He hadn't even realized how thirsty he was until he'd started drinking. He tore the rations bar in half. Mako shook his head.

"I won't eat until you do," Rex insisted, pressing Mako's share into his one hand.

Mako reluctantly accepted, working his helmet off with his one good hand and the stump of his other hand. He leaned up against the wall next to Rex while he ate.

"You're very adept," Rex noted, gesturing toward Mako's stump.

Mako shrugged. "It's what we clones do. We adapt."

Rex thought about all of the clones on the ship with their varying degrees of disability.

Could this shipful of clones make a new life for themselves? Could they all adapt?

He hoped they would get a chance to find out. None of it would matter if they couldn't fend off another pirate attack.

###

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder to not worry too much about remembering the names of the OCs. If any of the characters will be recurring, I'll pop into little reminders within the narrative so you know who is who without having to backtrack. The clone battalions where they come from are thrown in for a bit of color but are not overly relevant.


	36. Facing the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex is forced to face someone from his past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter introduces a new clone OC. (Yes, another one.) This OC will be a recurring character so his introduction gets a whole chapter. There is a lot of artwork for this character. I'll post links for it at the end.

The pilots remained trapped. The optimism of Drax and Shadow had been a bit premature. The door started to release and promptly hissed shut again. He didn't want the pilots trapped in the cabin in the event they came under attack.

Rex leaned back again against the bulkhead, trying to find a comfortable position to rest his injured leg. He was still shaken from "seeing" Ahsoka. It had seemed so real. He'd never experienced anything like it.

_I wish I could see her again._

Rex immediately pushed the thought away as foolish. He was getting easily distracted.

_It's just fatigue. I'm tired, nothing more. It's been a long day._

He took several long deep breaths to recoup his energy and focused on the troopers on the ship. _There is so much left to do. I need to keep my head on the here and now._ He had to give these troopers credit, they were doing a good job of keeping busy. The downed ship was being gutted of anything useful to their survival and every cabinet being torn open to search for usable materials. It was a sort of chaos but in a methodical way, since troopers were trained to work together seamlessly as groups since decanting.

Rex kept getting updates of inventoried items found sent to his HUD. With just a flick of his eyes, he sent the data into a master spreadsheet. He already was working on calculations of how long they could hold out here, based upon the supplies found so far. Of course, that didn't take into another firefight with the space trash that had landed them here in the first place.

He shifted again, trying to ease an uncomfortable feeling of pins and needles in his injured leg. He resigned himself to the fact there was no comfortable position at the moment and focused his energies on studying the trooper manifest. He scrubbed a hand across his face, trying to get his tired eyes to focus more clearly.

_Oh fek. Why didn't I notice that name before?_

Rex double-checked the CC number and the unit. And, then for good measure, he checked it again. Of all the millions of clones to crashland on a planet with in this galaxy, why did it have to be _this_ particular clone?

He breathed out through his nose as he considered the situation. _Much as I dislike him, he's probably exactly what these troopers need right now._

He jammed his helmet back on and looked out over the sea of troopers, trying to find this one special clone. The one he was sure hated him. Gah. Where is he? Rex had to walk the length of the crowded ship before he finally found him. He spotted the distinctive burgundy armor of the clone he was looking for in the small Engineering section of the ship. Just as Tek had been before, this particular brother was working lying underneath a panel. He was fully engrossed in his work, with just his chest and feet visible. Rex watched him work for a moment. _Well, I certainly can't fault him his dedication_ , Rex thought, as he watched him work to repair the ship. Rex hesitated for another long moment, then finally gave one of the booted feet a gentle whack with one of his crutches.

"This better be good," called the voice from underneath the panel, "or I'm breaking fingers."

Rex put his helmet back on, and set it to text everything he spoke: "Hello, Travis. Good to see you, too. I understand you're fully deaf now, but other than that, I'm sure you're the same di'kut I remember."

The distinctively colored helmet of the Galactic Marines emerged from under the panel. "Well, if it isn't the grand hero of the 501st. What the fek do you want with me?"

"I suspect the pirates are regrouping. If we want to keep these men alive, we need to establish a more formal command structure."

"I see you put yourself in charge," the Marine's voice was dripping with scorn.

"It's what I was trained to do, same as you." Rex folded his arms across his chest and studied the trooper in front of him.

"Why me?" Travis ground out, his irritation evident, "With this many brothers onboard, there must be other command clones onboard."

"There was at least one, but he has a head injury now."

Travis shook his head. "There's no one else? I don't think you and I can work together. Not with our history."

"Look, there are some other clones onboard with some experience leading men, but I know what _you_ are capable of and I don't have time to break in someone new. You were top of our class. Best at most everything."

"Yes. I _was_ the best," Travis ground out bitterly, "but it didn't do me any good in the end, did it? Somehow, _you_ still got the 501st. _You_ were chosen over me."

"That's all in the past now-"

"Not for me!" Travis shouted, getting in Rex's face.

"Stow the attitude. We have work to do."

Travis stood up in one swift motion. He threw his helmet down, and suddenly his face was inches from Rex's helmet. Rex immediately took his helmet off and tossed it down. The two stared each other down, eye-to-eye. "I _am_ working, you stupid, stuck-up, kama-wearing, chuff-sucking Mynock! I've been re-routing power all around this ship and patching up holes on the outside so we don't have fekkin' freeze tonight." He hissed in frustration, turned away, and then thought better of drawing his fist back. He held the punch, his arm straining, obviously at war with himself while he decided whether he wanted to hit Rex or not.

"Is this going to take a while? We have a lot to do."

"You are still every bit as annoying as Kamino!" Travis ground out through gritted teeth.

"If it would make you feel better, go ahead and hit me."

"You odious bishwag! I should hit you just to shut up the annoying scud coming out of your mouth."

"Still waiting," Rex said calmly.

Travis sized Rex up. "I probably shouldn't. You're injured."

"Oh, everyone on this ship is injured. Don't let that you hold back."

"You _want_ me to hit you. Now, you're baiting me." He hissed in frustration. "Gah! You're just as annoying as when we were cadets!"

"If it'll help you blow off steam, then got on with it. But, it won't change the fact that I got the posting you thought you deserved."

"You were always a suck-up and a cheater!" Travis' eyes flashed with anger.

"A cheater? A suck-up? Do you know how hard I worked to get that posting?! And, how the frek can one cheat when we have all the same genes?"

"The 501st should have been mine!" Travis said, tension radiating off him in waves. "I should be their Captain!"

"Gah, fek, Travis, let it go-"

Travis let loose a solid punch that connected with Rex's face, sending him sailing him back. Rex would have fallen, except Travis caught him, holding him on his feet. Rex nodded once he had his balance again.

"Fek," Rex grumbled. "Do you feel better now, or do you need to hit me again?"

"I was just trying to get you to shut up," Travis shook his hand. "You always did have a hard hit. I think I hurt my hand."

"Serves you right," Rex grumbled, rubbing at his sore chin.

Travis scowled at him, "You're such an ass." He shook his head, "This doesn't change anything, Rex, but, we can finish this when you aren't such a mess." He gazed down at Rex's injured leg. Throwing the punch seemed to have put Travis in a better mood. His tone was at least conciliatory now.

"We _will_ finish this, but not now. Show me what you discovered when you were assessing the ship. We need to figure out what we're going to do if those pirates come around again." He paused. "Wait- do you need a few more minutes to finish up the..." he pointed to the panel Travis had been working on... "electrical wiring?"

Travis looked at Rex, shocked, "Now, that _is_ a change from the old Rex. You actually thought beyond your own little sphere."

Rex shook his head. "I'm not who you think I am, Travis, although, you do sometimes bring out the worst in me."

Travis snorted. "And, yet you want us to work together. Fine. I was just about done here. Lead the way, 'o great Captain of the 501st," Travis made a grand sweeping gesture indicating that Rex should go first.

"Not really a Captain anymore," Rex hissed, and then jammed his helmet back on so they could walk and 'talk' more easily. Reading lips was definitely harder to do when you were walking side-by-side. Travis replaced his helmet as well, so he could easily read text messages in his HUD as they walked.

"Well, they all keep calling you Captain."

"It's an honorary title," Rex grumbled.

"Call it what you like." Travis changed the topic, pointing to the metallic knee brace on Rex's leg. "So, what happened to you anyway?"

Rex was glad for the change of topic, even if it was a painful one to discuss. He sucked in a long breath before pushing it out slowly. It was still difficult to talk about what happened. "I was hit with clone-shredder ammo. Ripped up my armor and then my leg with it."

"Clone-shredder?" repeated Travis, "well, you are full of surprises. I hadn't realized the Seps' were using that yet."

"Hopefully I'm the only clone that ever gets hit with one. I was on a covert mission to take out their manufacturing facility. This information is all H.C."

"If it's highly-classified, then _why_ are you telling me? I don't have the same rank or clearance as you."

They had just emerged from the ship and stepped outside onto the ramp. Rex stopped and faced Travis: "Because I trust you, Travis, and at one point on Kamino we were friends. Good friends. And, you trusted me."

Rex turned around and started making his way down the ramp. Travis just stood there a moment, speechless, before following him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Travis went through a lot of concept art, all drawn by my friend GloryBlaz over on DeviantArt: 
> 
> Here is the original Travis doodle page:  
> https://www.deviantart.com/gloryblaz/art/Travis-Concept-Sketches-266708623
> 
> Travis concept sketch # 2:  
> I love this one for the lighting and the moody posture:  
> https://www.deviantart.com/gloryblaz/art/Hallways-271485313 
> 
> Travis concept sketch # 3:  
> Travis looking like he wants to hit Rex.  
> https://www.deviantart.com/gloryblaz/art/Contemplative-271474988
> 
> Sadly, there are no sketches of Travis in his finalized armor design. Ultimately, for the purposes of the story, I made Travis a Galactic Marine. Travis did not get the 501st, but the Marines would still be a very desirable posting. The Marines are also known for being hardcore, which suits Travis' acerbic personality. 
> 
> Here is a little excerpt about the Marines: "The Galactic Marines were first seen in the Battle of New Bornalex. In this battle, they used the space trooper power suits, a new armor for clones. While using it, the armor malfunctioned and their weapons did not work. In an attempt to survive, they fought off super battle droids with their bare hands, earning them a great reputation."- Source: clonetrooper.fandom.com


	37. Cutting off contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If we restore communications and the Republic gets in touch with us, what do you think would happen?"
> 
> Travis shook his head. "Nothing good would come of it. We'd be put on the next working transport to Kamino. We've been decommissioned, Rex, all of us." Travis couldn't keep the bitterness out of his tone. "The Republic doesn't want us anymore."
> 
> Rex sighed heavily. "Agreed." He was thoughtful another long moment, staring out at the snow. "OK, then, restoring long-range comms needs to be off the repair list." It was strange not to contact the Republic after a crash landing. Strange and different were beginning to seem the new normal. "Can you change the frequency of all of our internal comms so there is no chance the Republic can detect our signals when we communicate back and forth? Assuming we start to move around, we need to be able to communicate from anywhere on this planet and not worry about our signals being picked up."

Rex and Travis stood outside the ship. They were deep in discussion about creating a defensible perimeter around the newly named 'Ando Legion Base Camp.' Tents were springing up quickly, clustered together close to the ship to take advantage of the shelter offered by the wreck. Several containers of emergency supplies and salvaged ship parts had been moved outside the ship in preparation for troopers camping outdoors.

"This will be a difficult spot to defend. Too much open space around us," Travis scowled as he studied the perimeter. "We're really exposed out here. Other than that bit of trees and scrub over there, there's no natural cover. We'll need to find a more defensible position if we're going to be here for any length of time. You sent out scouts. Have they reported back in yet?"

Rex checked his comm again. "No." He didn't want to admit he was getting worried, but he had sent four of their men out onto a planet they knew very little about it. Fek it all. He let the worries go, for now, so he could focus on the issue of defending the ship. He looked over at the meager tree and brush line, then back at their downed vessel, "I agree, Travis. But, we can't move the ship, and we can't move some of our men. I don't think the troopers in the bio-beds can survive for long outside the ship. And, I'm _not_ leaving them behind." His voice dropped as if he could somehow be overheard by the Jedi. "I won't abandon them as the Republic did to us."

Travis gave a brief glance back over his shoulder toward the ship, before he said in a hushed voice, "How do you even know those brothers want to live? They all have spinal injuries. What kind of life is that for a soldier? We're not bred to lie on our backs for the rest of our farkin' lives."

"And, how do you know they want to die?" Rex challenged. He raised up his hand prepared to get into a full-on argument with Travis but started losing his balance in the ice and snow.

Travis grabbed at his arm and steadied him. "Sit down before you fall down, you stubborn di'kut." He pushed Rex down onto a nearby jumpsuit salvaged from the ship. The captain wasn't able to stifle a groan from his broken ribs.

"That was stupidly brave- what you did right before we landed," Travis said, regarding Rex critically.

"That's me," Rex said, not able to resist baiting Travis. "The stupid brave one."

"We're supposed to be genetically identical, but somehow you always managed to take things one step further."

Rex snorted. "And, look where it landed me. Here. On an iceball with you." He leaned back in the chair and studied the snowy landscape. "If we restore communications and the Republic gets in touch with us, what do you think would happen?"

Travis shook his head. "Nothing good would come of it. We'd be put on the next working transport to Kamino. We've been decommissioned, Rex, all of us." Travis couldn't keep the bitterness out of his tone. "The Republic doesn't want us anymore."

Rex sighed heavily. "Agreed." He was thoughtful another long moment, staring out at the snow. "OK, then, restoring long-range comms needs to be off the repair list." It was strange not to contact the Republic after a crash landing. Strange and different were beginning to seem the new normal. "Can you change the frequency of all of our internal comms so there is no chance the Republic can detect our signals when we communicate back and forth? Assuming we start to move around, we need to be able to communicate from anywhere on this planet and not worry about our signals being picked up."

Travis nodded. "I'll make it happen. And, I'll spread the word no one is to try to contact the Republic. Not that any trooper has an incentive to do so." He thought about it further. "Still, sometimes our training kicks in before we can think. I'll pull the critical pieces needed for long-range comms and take possession of them."

Rex nodded his approval. "We need sensors and weapons. This transport is unarmed but I saw some heavy weapons troopers on our manifest. We can either jury rig one of these weapons as a roof mount on the ship, or just position some troopers with the big guns up there. They'd be in the best position to fire on an incoming ship."

Travis nodded his approval. "It's a good plan. I'll gather the able-bodied troopers for defensive drills."

"Thanks, Travis. That's all for now."

Travis nodded crisply and walked away. For all his flaws, and they were many, Travis had always been excellent in a crisis. Rex stared out at the ice planet thoughtfully. This moon in the middle of nowhere might not have been his first choice of someplace to crash. But, somehow they'd all been granted a second chance. He studied the landscape again with a new perspective. This forgotten little rock just could prove to be their salvation. He headed back inside the ship to oversee repairs.

# # #

Repair crews had been busy plugging up leaks in the hull and the interior was already noticeably warmer when Rex worked his way back inside. The conditions would be much more comfortable for the more seriously injured, including the men in the bio-beds.

Shadow called him over the comm, "Come meet me by the cockpit."

Rex broke out in a grin under his bucket as he rounded the corner by the cockpit and saw the door finally opened and the pilots outside thanking their rescuers.

"Captain, a word with you," Odds said. His voice dropped low. "There's an unidentified ship which keeps popping in and out of range of sensors."

Rex almost asked 'Friendlies?', but then stopped himself. Who was a 'friendly?' now anyway?

"Get some rations and then keep working on getting an ID on that ship," Rex ordered. "Anything changes, comm me immediately."

Odds looked over at Chance. "I'll stay here and monitor the sensors. Go ahead and take a break, vod."

Rex nodded his thanks to both pilots. His sixth sense was tingling, telling him something was getting ready to happen.

# # #

The scouts reported in shortly before dark. There was a river two klicks east with salinated water. They'd followed the river downstream and as they suspected, it spilled out into the sea shortly downstream. The scouts reported seeing glints of light in the ocean. Perhaps the metallic hull of a ship? The scouts requested permission to stay overnight and continue scouting in the morning.

"There are coves here along the beach," Sabre said. "We found one that's the right size for the four of us. We'll stay warm enough if we huddle together."

"Alright. Stay safe. Don't take any unnecessary chances. Report in on a regular basis Rex out." Even as he gave the OK, Rex's gut gave another lurch. He'd always had a good sense of when trouble was about to strike. But, since Teth, these instincts seemed to have kicked into overdrive. He signed off the comm with a sense of unease, still not sure what he was sensing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uploaded the artwork of Travis to my Tumblr (longlivetheclones)
> 
> longlivetheclones.tumblr.com


	38. Blood Red Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clone survivors spend their first night on the Andoan moon and make first contact with the native inhabitants.

Rex and Travis were back outside the ship, inspecting the preparations for the troopers who would be spending the night outdoors.

An icy breeze was beginning to pick up and the sun was just dipping below the horizon. Rex bumped up the heat in his suit a notch and took the time to watch the sun slip the rest of the way down. It was a spectacular sight with riotous colors of orange, yellow, pink and blood red reflecting off the unbroken landscape of snow. As the orange and yellow hues faded away, the blood-red dominated the sky. The sight made Rex's heart pound as he felt _alive_ even on this barren snowy planet.

"I rarely have the time to see a sunset," Rex remarked quietly. "I'm usually too busy battling tinnies, writing reports, or traveling from place to place to stop and take notice of something like _this,_ " he made a vague gesture toward the setting sun.

Travis thought about Rex's words and then commented with a sigh. "Same. What always gets me is trying to whip the shinies in shape. They seem to keep sending them out younger and younger these days."

"Agreed," he tugged off his helmet so he could run a hand through his hair. It had grown out and he hadn't had access to anything where he could shave it. He pivoted slightly so Travis could read his lips. "It reached the point I half-expected them to ship us cadets and expect us to make soldiers out of them," Rex said it in jest but the joke fell flat.

The blood-red color of the sunset deepened. The colors intensified, shot through now with deep shades of angry purple. "I often wonder how far the Republic is willing to go to win this war? Not far enough to get the job done? Or, go so far they get us all killed?" Travis tore his gaze away to look at Rex. "Where will it all end?"

Rex shook his head. "Fek if I know. I've often wondered that myself." He stabbed at the snow with one of his crutches, looking back at Travis to make sure he could understand him. "I always thought I'd die in the war, amongst my brothers someplace." He gave a self-deprecating snort. " _This_ wasn't part of the plan."

"Same. Hard to believe we have so much in common." His voice wasn't angry, though. He huffed without humor. "If those pirates attack, you might get your wish to die amongst brothers."

"Not funny, Travis."

"Wasn't meant to be. I don't know if our odds are very good in a ground attack. We had the element of surprise when they boarded us. But, we're sitting nunas out here. We have only our blasters and a shipful of injured men."

"I am _not_ going to let these men die, Travis."

"That may not be up to you!" Travis raised a fist in frustration. "You can't control everything, Rex."

Mako came up beside them, squeezing himself between them and interrupting their argument. He pointed at the last fading fingers of glimmering mottled colored light, now stained with charcoal darkness all around the edges. "Huh. Will you look at that? Kind of reminds me of an explosion. The way it all fans out."

Travis stared at the newcomer in annoyance. "Who are you again?"

"Mako."

Travis crossed his arms across his chest and scrutinized Mako like he was a shiny up for inspection. "I heard about you. Not what I expected. You're the bomb squad guy."

"Yeah, that's me." Mako shook his head. "Wish I was more."

"More?" Travis scoffed. "We're clones. We don't get _more_."

"Hey, lay off of him," Rex said, leaning around Mako to stare at Travis.

"I'm just saying there are no options for us, clones. What good does it do to wish for anything _more_?" He shook his head with disgust. "We fight, we die, that's all we get. You said so yourself, Rex."

"I did not say it like that!"

"Hey, if you two are done," Mako interrupted again, "the men are asking permission to build a fire."

"A fire?" Rex repeated, trying to switch gears from his conversation with Travis. Gah. He was tired. He was starting to process everything more slowly.

Mako nodded. "Hodges and Price gathered up a bunch of combustible materials when they were gathering the emergency supplies. They said they could use it as fuel. Should burn for a bit. If we angle things properly, the ship should hide the fire from view."

"It could still be seen from above," Rex said, thinking it over. He looked to Travis for his opinion.

Travis took a long moment before replying. He shrugged. "I say yes. If the pirates are coming in from above, which they likely will, they'll find us regardless. the fire will be good for morale. But, keep it small."

Rex nodded. "I concur. Conserve as much of our resources as possible. We don't how long we're going to be here."

Mako nodded. "Understood. I'll pass the message along." He headed off, leaving Travis and Rex alone again.

Rex tugged his helmet back on. With nightfall rapidly coming on, his head and ears were quickly feeling the cold. "I can't figure you out. You're the strangest blend of optimist and pessimist."

"Yeah, well, it comes from having your command stolen out from under you."

"Haar'chak Travis! The 501st was never yours! Let it go!"

"Areutyc! Believe what you want, but I know what happened. I'll work with you here to help save these brothers. But, it doesn't mean I forgive you." Travis stalked away.

Rex hissed in frustration and headed back into the ship.

_# # #_

Most of the troopers were done working for the day. Some were exhausted and had found a quiet space to settle down inside the ship, but most were choosing to enjoy the company of their brothers around the small fire pit. As Rex encountered more of the vode, he took the time to learn more of their names and thank them for all of their efforts.

He also tracked down the medic to get a status update on Torch, the trooper who'd been sustained a brutal head injury when they'd crashed. Lance, the medic, was kneeling beside Torch, checking his vitals. He looked up when Rex approached.

The medic looked as tired as Rex felt. "Hey Captain," he said softly, "can I help you with something? You feeling alright?"

"I'm alright. Just checking on on Torch."

The medic shook his head. "There's not too much I can do for him. This is a very serious head wound and we just don't have any of the right equipment to treat it."

_Fek._

Torch escaped dying on Kamino just to end up dying on this moon. _And, it's my fault because he was trying to help me._

Rex felt the heavy weight he always did when he couldn't stop troopers from dying. "Alright," he said quietly to Lance, because there was nothing else to say, "keep me posted." There was no hope of rescue from the Republic. They'd been abandoned by the GAR. Lance nodded and went back to his vigil of sitting by his patient. Torch might not be conscious but he was not alone. Rex squeezed Lance's shoulder armor in an unspoken gesture of thanks.

Rex stopped again by the bio-beds to check on the paralyzed men. He was exhausted, but it was easier to keep moving. He was worried if he stopped, his thoughts would stray into dark territory. He didn't want too much time to think. He was doing an admirable job of not thinking about the 501st at the moment. If nothing else, fighting with Travis was proving to be a good distraction. He didn't want to think about everything he'd left behind. He shook himself out of his thoughts, focusing on offering water to the clone in the last bio-bed. He wanted to greet the vod by name but hadn't met him yet.

The clone shook his head. "No, I'm good. Save it for someone else." He reached out a hand to Rex, surprising him. "I'm Catcher."

"Rex." They clasped arms.

"Sit for a minute, Rex, no offense but you look you're ready to drop." Catcher patted the side of his bio-bed.

"You can tell that with my bucket on?" Rex asked, suprised.

The clone shrugged. "ARC instincts."

Rex accepted the offer to sit, setting his crutches down and leaning against the side of the bed. "An ARC. Which unit?"

"327th. I did a lot of independent missions, of course, but I reported into Commander Bly."

"Bly?" Rex's ears perked up with interest at the mention of his fellow command clone. "I did an interesting mission with him on Maridun."

"I heard about that from Bly," Catcher said, listening intently as Rex shared his version of the battle they'd engaged in on the planet against the Confederacy General Lok Durd.

"He's a good vod," Rex said, referencing Bly.

Catcher nodded and then met Rex's eyes. "I won't see him again, though, will I?"

Rex paused before answering. He knew the sense of loss the ARC was going through and he had no easy answers. "I don't know." He lowered his voice. "I don't know what's going to happen to any of us here."

Catcher studied him thoughtfully. "That's a good answer. I think it's why everyone is comfortable having you in charge."

Rex snorted. "Because I don't know anything?"

"Because you're willing to admit what you don't know. That's wisdom, vod. Hey, why are you here with me? Everyone else is outside enjoying the fire. It's where I would be if I could walk." There was no self-pity in the clone's voice. But, the simple question tugged at Rex. Much as Rex resented his leg injury for taking him away from the 501st, he could still about at will. He wasn't immobile and stuck in a bed. "Go on," Catcher said, seeing Rex's hesitation. "I can talk to these other vode here." He gestured to the other men in the biobeds. "But, the rest of the men need you, too."

Catcher was right. He was a likable clone and had a certain wisdom about him.

"I'll come back and see you again," Rex promised.

Catcher nodded. "We'll talk again. Thanks for stopping by."

Rex made his way outside to the fire pit. Mako spotted him and immediately jumped up to guide him to an empty jumpseat right in front by the fire.

"Saved you a premium spot," Mako said proudly.

Rex wanted to refuse, but he was too tired to say no. He sank into the salvaged seat with a grunt. "Thanks, Mako. "

He stared into the flames, deep in thought, let the conversation and laughter of his brothers blend into the background around him. Rex's thoughts strayed back to the ARC, Catcher, wondering how he might be able to help him. Fek. How he could help someone in a biobed? They were stranded here. It would be a miracle if he could keep these men alive. From what he understood, the biobeds were helping to keep the men alive. If they lost power, the batteries would drain on the beds. And, these men wouldn't stand much of a chance of survival.

Travis walked past the campfire and handed Rex a rations bar, and a bottle of water. Rex shifted over on the jumpseat, making room for Travis to sit down on his side with the good leg. Travis settled in comfortably next to Rex, making sure to shove Rex with his hip.

"Travis, we're both 11 now," Rex growled, "let's try to act our age."

"You haven't changed."

"I don't plan on it either," Rex said stubbornly, wondering how Travis could always get under his skin so easily. Rex took off his helmet so he could eat. As he chewed the tasteless ration bar and washed it down, he filled Travis in on the initial report from the scouts. Rex felt a small bit of his energy returning as he got a bit of food and water in his system.

Travis pulled up a mini-display on his wrist and showed Rex an updated roster of who was aboard the ship. Rex used his compad to send Travis all the data he'd been gathering throughout the day. Travis gestured with his hands, talking about drills he wanted to run in the morning.

"All of these troopers still have value and can fight, including the men in the biobeds. Every man here has value."

"I agree a lot of these injured troopers may still be able to do something. But, those men are paralyzed, I don't see how-"

"I don't know," Rex admitted, and immediately realized it was a relief to admit when he didn't know.

Travis studied him thoughtfully. "Alright," he said, after a long moment. "I'll find out their skills." They were silent for a long time. "You worried about the scouts?" the Marine ventured.

"Yes," Rex admitted, without hesitation, looking into the darkness beyond the fire. Without any cities nearby, the darkness was complete.

"Yet, you agreed to let them stay out there because…"

"I wanted to show the team I trusted their judgment. And, because they are in a position to gather valuable intel."

"A calculated risk for the good of the whole."

Rex nodded, looking grim and uneasy.

"Even when the good of the whole could mean sacrificing individuals."

"Can the lecture. This isn't command school." Rex gave Travis an acidic look. They were both silent again for a long time staring into the flames. Rex finally spoke. "'I've lost many men under my command. Too many." He sighed heavily, the pain he was feeling so clearly evident in his eyes. "Since we left Kamino, they came one after another. Things they never prepared us for at Kamino. At Christophsis, I was betrayed by one of my own men. And, then, Bothawaui," he paused, again, and cursed under his breath. "And, then fekkin' _Teth._ I lost almost everyone, Travis. All my troopers. No fekkin' air support until the end. Only five of us walked away."

Rex blew out a long breath. It felt good to get all of it off his chest. For all his faults, Travis was a good listener.

The two sat in silence for a long moment, staring into the flames.

"Sorry, didn't mean to lay all that on you," Rex said, shaking his head. "I'm sure it's been just as hard on your end."

Travis snorted. "No, no, the Marines is fun." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm sure you have stories."

"None I'm willing to repeat." Travis' voice took on a haunted tone. He quickly changed the subject and stood up. "I'll comm the scouts and check in with them."

Rex checked his chrono. "Good timing. Thanks, Travis." And, then to lighten the mood, he added: "Your obsessiveness to detail is why I picked you."

"Actually, you picked that other guy first, but, I won't read too much into that, though."

Underneath his helmet, Rex had a hint of a smile.

# # #

"I'll take first watch," Hok offered. He was leader of the scouts and wanted to ensure his men received adequate rest. The others nodded and a look passed between them. He knew they were silently working out the rotation for the night.

Earlier in the evening, they'd sat around on a driftwood log, chatting about bolo teams and the championships. They talked about meeting Captain Rex of the 501st, and his heroics in saving the men in the biobeds. Then, they compared notes, talking about some of the other interesting people they'd met from the ship, and any interesting armor upgrades or specialized weapons they had. By unspoken consensus, they stayed away from the topic of Kamino. It had been an exciting day, but a good day and his team went off to rest in good spirits.

Hok paced back and forth, occasionally checking in on his sleeping men. The sunset had been spectacular and the moon had an orangish tint to it. It was strangely compelling. And, peaceful. On Coruscant, the moon was never visible due to all the competing glare from the city-planet's lights. Hok had never liked being stationed on Coruscant. The whole place felt jittery, strung out and five minutes late for _something_.

Hok studied the moon again. If fate hadn't intervened, he would have died today at the hands of the Kaminoans. He checked in again on his sleeping men and walked the perimeter of the beach. All quiet. He settled in on a driftwood log and craned his neck back so he could get a better look at the moon. It had risen all the way and was dominating much of the sky. The color was absolutely magnificent—shot through with oranges and grey that seemed so luminescent, yet strangely muted at the same time. Hok reached a hand up, feeling like if he could just get his arm up to the right height, he could touch it. He sighed with pure satisfaction, knowing at the same time if he ever caught one of his men lingering on guard duty like this he'd be blistering their ears out about it for weeks.

His attention was so fixed on the moon above, he did not notice the large sea creature poke its' head up out of the water and focus hungry eyes on him. The enormous sea snake silently left the water and rippled onto the sand- his stealth all the more impressive considering his sheer size.

Hok's danger sense flared, and he leapt to his feet, blaster at the ready. But, he didn't have a chance to get off a shot. He only saw fangs and an enormous head before the creature was upon him. Hok screamed as the razor-sharp teeth penetrated through his armor and into the muscle and flesh underneath. In a flash, Hok realized his leg had not been the intended target. A moment or two earlier, his head and neck were in that same place. If not for his quickened clone reaction time, his head would now have been down the beach from his body. The creature reared up taking Hok with it, bellowing in rage, with the realization that its prey was still alive and fighting back. Adrenaline flooded Hok's body allowing him to temporarily block out the pain from his side and leg. His arms were still free. He focused intently on trying to get a clear shot at the creature so painfully gripping him with it's jaws. But, all he could see were teeth, tentacles, and a flailing tale.

_Shab! Where are the vulnerable spots? The eyes? Inside of the ears? Someway to hit the brain? There! The eye!_

Hok focused and squeezed off a carefully aimed shot. The creature bellowed in rage and bit down harder. Hok yelled in agony as tissues in his leg ripped apart.

The pain was intense and blackness swam in front of his vision.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hok saw his men running toward him, already firing on the creature. The reptile had a thick outer layer and their blaster shots seemed to have little effect.

Hok was in agony and felt like the creature was biting him in half. Even in the dark, with just the moonlight, he could see blood spilling everywhere over his armor. If it wasn't for his armor, Hok was sure he'd be in pieces already.

"Aim- for- the- eyes..." Hok hissed into his comm, between pained gasps.

All of his scouts dropped to their knees in formation and focused their fire on the creature's head. Hok yelped as he was scorched with a blast of friendly fire. But, if he was going down, he was taking this creature with him. He ejected his vibroblade and started hacking into the hide of the creature.

"Let- me- go!" He stabbed again and again, green blood from the creature spilling out over onto his gauntlet.

And, then, suddenly the creature was moving at twice the speed it was before and Hok was pulled across the sand before being plunged into the icy depths of the sea still tangled in the maw of the giant sea creature.

# # #

The Ando Fishing Fleet was not what it once was. The planet had lost most of its population. And, the oceans had been devastated.

Ashla hauled up the net and stared at the contents in the bright glare of the fishing trawler's spotlight. A gust of wind blew across the ocean's surface. Ashla pulled her parka more tightly around her, trying to find some warmth against the chilly night winds that gusted across the ocean. She clapped her hands together to get some warmth into them.

She turned to the women next to her, "Jade, why are we up at this Hutt-forsaken hour? Normal people sleep at night."

The woman next to her laughed good-naturedly. "Hey, don't complain to me. Take it out on your sister, the scientist. This was her idea."

The third woman was scanning the ocean's water with a spotlight. "Can we focus here? We're looking for the eleven-legged starfish and they're most active during the full moon. You know as well as I do what's at stake for the food supply here on this planet. If we don't find an alternative food source for the town, then the future- .. Wait... Whoa! Did you hear that?!"

All three women stared toward the darkened seashore where blaster fire had interrupted the still of the night.

Jade looked at Xyra "There it is again! This part of Ando is supposed to be completely uninhabited!"

More shots rang out, making it clear there were multiple people on the shore.

Ashla pointed a finger at Xyra, "I told you, didn't I? Karyn said there were reports of a ship going down on the Westshore yesterday." She ran up to the Captain's cabin of the fishing trawler. The ship's spotlight was aimed toward shore in time to catch the tail end of the drama unfolding.

"I can see men in armor. Mandalorians, maybe? It's hard to tell. What are they doing here? No one comes here." Jade grabbed a pair of binoculars and tried to make out more details of the mysterious armored men.

"Men!" Ashla said, finding her binoculars, and staring at the armored figures in fascination. "I think those are _men_. You don't see many of those on this planet..."

"Check out that Andoan sea oppee," Xyra gazed through her high-powered science binocular in awe. "Magnificent. You don't see a lot of _those_ anymore either. Magnificent specimen. I think they stumbled upon its territory. Bad luck."

The blaster fire at shore increased in intensity. Ashla's voice rose. "The oppee just dragged one of them off the shore."

"Bring us in as close as you can," she ordered Ahsla. "Jade, get the depth charges."

"Get them yourself," Jade huffed.

Xyra's look was icy, losing some of her cool composure. "For the love of Ando, Jade! Go get the charges or I swear I'm throwing you overboard!"

"You wouldn't!" But, Jade still ran below in the trawler and retrieved the box of charges, handing it over to Xyra.

"Bring us in closer," Xyra ordered.

"Can't go any closer than this!" Ashla yelled down, "there are rocks closer to shore. We'll be run aground!"

Jade stared intently into the dark seas. "Give me the 'nocs. You can't use and throw the charges." She took the binoculars from her sister and adjusted them carefully, staring into the dark seas. "Hurry, throw them now, he's dragging him under!"

Xyra positioned herself by the railing of the ship, a depth charge in each hand. "That Oppee is a _her_ , not a him," she grumbled. "Have you no respect for our seas?"

"Oh, I respect the seas, alright," Jade said, still staring intently into the binoculars, "but I think you love your sea creatures more than you respect people." She looked up in annoyance. "Gah, weather is coming in." Wisps of fog started coming down around them.

"Yes, well, sea creatures didn't try to destroy this planet, did they? If-" Xyra stared into the dark seas, trying to catch sight of the oppee. The fog around them was intensifying, making the search more difficult.

"Now!" Jade shouted, pointing to a dark mass just emerging from the water, interrupting her sister's tirade. "There it is! Close to the ship!"

Xyra arced her arm back and threw the charge. A muffled boom resounded under the ship lifting it up slightly. The Andoan Oppee floated to the surface, stunned, its prey still gripped in its' jaws. Then, the massive creature recovered and plunged back under the water.

Jade let out a long impressive string of courses in ancient Andoan cursing the Oppee and its enormous natural strength.

"Figures that would be all you'd remember from your Ancient Ando studies classes," Xyra muttered as she arched her arm back to toss the second depth charge, aiming at the area where the sea creature had disappeared. Once again, the ship lifted up with the force of the depth charge. They looked around for the sea creature, struggling to see through the increasingly poor visibility.

"Where is it?" Ashla said, searching around with the spotlight on the dark water. The fog refracted and reflected the light back.

"We need to drop another one," Jade said, opening up the red box and handing a third depth charge to Xyra.

"Another charge might kill the Oppee," Xyra protested.

"It's the only chance that man has," Jade countered.

Xyra stared her sister down. "We don't know _anything_ about him or the others or why he's here. Why should we risk killing an oppee for him?"

Jade shook her head. "Unbelievable! I'm throwing it."

"No!" Xyra protested.

Jade threw the depth charge overboard.

Xyra cast her sister a venomous look. "You may have just killed an endangered creature."

Ashla pointed the large ship's spotlight to the large dark shape of the Oppee floating unconscious along the surface. Floating next to it, was the mysterious armored figure. "There!"

"May as well figure out who he is," Jade countered to her sister, grabbing the scoop net. "We'll get some answers."

Jade and Ashla together tried to maneuver the scoop net to grab up the still figure. But, the scoop net was designed to bring up scientific samples and not an unconscious body. They could not get a hold of the armored man, and as his body soaked through with water, he began to sink.

Xyra stripped off her thick fisherman's coat. "Fine. You want answers?"

"What are you doing?! You aren't thinking-" Jade cried out in alarm. But, it was too late. Xyra had already plunged off the side of the ship.


	39. Hok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the pressure relieved, Hok bucked his body again trying to throw off his attacker. They broke the surface of the water. He was stunned momentarily by a bright spotlight shining directly into his visor.
> 
> "-shla!" a breathless voice bellowed from right behind his head, "- got him! Reel us -! - fighting me!" He was smacked on the side of the helmet. "Hey, Mandalorian! - struggling - dropping- "
> 
> Hok froze, stunned. The words came through in fits and muddled bursts. He looked up in shock at the seemingly huge boat right above him. His half-frozen brain tried to comprehend everything that was happening. He tried to turn his head, and see who it was that was holding him.
> 
> What? What?!
> 
> His stunned and shocked brain tried to make sense of all the sights and sounds around him.
> 
> Wait- sounds? He heard something? Fog had completely swirled in over the ocean, giving everything a surreal atmosphere. His brain tried to catch up with this completely unexpected turn of events. Hok tried to wrap his mind around everything and make sense of it. Mandalorians? There were Mandalorians here?

Hok could feel himself sinking. Bubbles drifted by his visors and he watched them with float by. Dimly, he was aware that the creature had released him. There was some comfort in knowing he wasn't going to die from being eaten. He was no longer in pain and felt strangely at peace. He was comfortably numb.

_Am I even breathing anymore? I can't tell._

A sealed clone trooper suit held twenty minutes of air. Clones could survive for short periods of time in the vacuum of space or even survive a plunge underwater. The creature had bitten him several times and his suit was _not_ sealed. However, the neck seal and the helmet could form their own seal in an emergency and provide a trooper with a few minutes of breathable air, just not nearly as much as if the entire suit was still intact.

He wasn't cold. He wasn't warm. He should feel something. He knew the creature had bitten him. But, he couldn't feel _anything_.

_I suppose there are worse ways to die._

_At least the beastie let me go._

_Now, I'm going to either asphyxiated or drown._

_I suppose it depends upon whether my visor cracks or not._

_Depends upon how deep I sink, I suppose? Maybe the pressure will kill me. It's not such a bad way to go, really. It's peaceful down here. Quiet. That creature stopped trying to eat me._

_Always thought I'd die in a spectacular explosion. Those are painful. This isn't so bad. OK, the getting bit part was awful._

_Yes, well, Hok, of course, getting bit hurts. Sea beasties having all those big teeth and all_

_I wonder why he let me go? Maybe clones are not to his liking. That's a good thing. I'd hate it if he went after the squad._

_Wish I could've said good-bye to the squad._ _I mean, something other than: 'Shoot it! Shoot it! Unmanly scream. Aim for the eyes!'_

_Really? Those were my last words?_

_Fek. Seriously._

_Jagger, Saber and Flex. Yeah, we're all deaf as the day is long, but, still, maybe we could've maybe a go of it here with Captain Rex._

_And, I die on my first day here._

_Stupid sea beastie. Seriously, did you have to eat me just when I got a second chance? We escaped the Kaminoans and then-_

_Whoa. That's a bright light. Maybe they're right about there being a bright light at the end of your life. Do I swim toward it? No. I can't move my arms._

_I'll just continue to sink then. You know, it was more peaceful without that shabla' light. It's too farkin' bright._

_Turn it off._ _Can't a man drown in peace?_

Something grabbed onto him and his arms were clamped tightly against his sides. Hok suddenly realized he was being dragged again. Another sea creature? A surge of adrenaline flooded his body. His arms and legs were numbed, but he bucked his body trying to throw off the new attacker. His arms were pinned tighter.

_No! Let me go!_

Pressure built up in his ears as he was tugged forcefully through the water. The pain in his ears was so blindingly intense he almost passed out. One ear took the brunt of the pressure worse than the other.

Hok tried to turn his head to see what had him in its' grip, but the pain in his head was so blinding. Ah! The pressure! My ears! He also couldn't see anything other than bubbling water rushing past. Something popped in one of his ears. My eardrum? Fluid dribbled down the side of his face. The sense of pressure eased a bit.

_Alright, beastie, let me see if I can take a piece of you down with me!_

With the pressure relieved, Hok bucked his body again trying to throw off his attacker. They broke the surface of the water. He was stunned momentarily by a bright spotlight shining directly into his visor.

"-shla!" a breathless voice bellowed from right behind his head, "- got him! Reel us -! - fighting me!" He was smacked on the side of the helmet. "Hey, Mandalorian! - struggling - dropping- "

Hok froze, stunned. The words came through in fits and muddled bursts. He looked up in shock at the seemingly huge boat right above him. His half-frozen brain tried to comprehend everything that was happening. He tried to turn his head, and see who it was that was holding him.

_What? What?!_

His stunned and shocked brain tried to make sense of all the sights and _sounds_ around him.

Wait- sounds? He _heard_ something? Fog had completely swirled in over the ocean, giving everything a surreal atmosphere. His brain tried to catch up with this completely unexpected turn of events. Hok tried to wrap his mind around everything and make sense of it. Mandalorians? There were Mandalorians here?

Hok felt blackness overtaking him. Adrenaline had carried his body this far, but now his body was shutting down. He tried to activate his comms and warn the captain but blackness swallowed him up completely before he could establish a connection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As most of you probably recognize, the reference to comfortably numb comes from the famous Pink Floyd song of the same title. It works well for Hok in this drowning scene. The lyrics are:  
> There is no pain you are receding A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.  
> You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.


	40. The Locals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xyra stared at it frozen. She knew Oppees could briefly go on land, but had no idea they could rise up so high above sea level. She was absolutely frozen in fascination and dully realized this was likely the last thing she would ever see-
> 
> Blast after blast of pinpoint blue bolts rang out from the net next to her. The Oppee shrieked and reared and thrashed in agony up as the bolts hit it precisely in the eye. The sound was so tremendous Xyra covered her frozen ears with her shaking hands. The creatures dove beneath the surface and was gone. She stared in shock at the Mandalorian. She could barely make a face behind the visor with the glare of the spotlight still shining all around them.
> 
> "I was right," the man said softly, in an accent she could not identify, "it was the eyes." And, then he slumped back and passed out again, still clutching a blaster in his grip.
> 
> Jade immediately started moving the net again, lowering them onto the deck of the ship. Xyra collapsed onto the deck, still curled into a tight ball and shivering uncontrollably, unable to move on her own anymore. Jade unwrapped her the net from around her and tried to pull her to her feet. Xyra cried out, as her cold limbs protested any movement.

Maybe jumping off the side of the ship was not one of Xyra's better plans. She had second thoughts about halfway down to the water. But, of course, at that point, she was committed, and could only prepare herself for the horrible icy grip of the water. It was so rare she went into the waters of the Southern Great Sea. The temps in the waters hovered between -2C and OC and the only creatures who could survive were spectacular creatures bred for the cold like the Oppee or the eleven-legged starfish or the amazing varieties of algaes that bloomed in ever greater varieties since the war. Humans unfortunate to tumble overboard on a fishing vessel, or foolish enough to jump in, stood little chance of surviving if they were not pulled from the waters quickly.

The shock of her body hitting the water was worse than she remembered from her childhood water survival classes. The water had a horrific bite and her skin smarted and burned all over. Her limbs drained of energy, immediately becoming weak. Her breath came in big jolting gasps and she immediately for someone with a scientific mind this was probably the _stupidest_ thing she'd ever done.

But, stubborn survival instincts kicked in after that and she started to swim, her eyes adjusting to the dark, the cold, and the massive shape of the Oppee floating in front of her. She was so magnificent and she'd never been this close to one of them. She reached out and stroked the area just above the eye, feeling the dark, smooth, resilient skin so well suited for the sea and was hit was a rush of endorphins.

_Like a dream come true to be so close to an Oppee._

She sent up a brief prayer to the gods hoping the creature was only stunned. She did not have time to examine it further and it probably would not be prudent to stick around in the event it woke up. She reluctantly turned away.

Her body was cooperating better now and while she could feel her blood pressure increasing due to the cold water shock, she could swim. Where was the Mandalorian?

Ashla and Jade were shouting to her. The bright ship's spotlight shining directly down on her and both pointing to a spot nearby to her.

Xyra looked over and saw the Mandalorian floating face down.

_Ah, there you are. The cause of all this trouble._

She swam toward him, the task taking longer than she expected due to her limbs feeling strangely unresponsive. How can I feel euphoric and weak at the same time? It was getting harder to breathe. The armored figure disappeared below the surface, sinking into the sea.

Panic set in. She had not jumped into the sea just to fail. Alright, she did get to touch an Oppee up close, but still, she was determined to return to the ship with the mysterious stranger. A rush of adrenaline added fuel to her limbs and she reached the sinking figure before he disappeared from sight. She dove beneath the surface. The shock of the water around her head clamped around her skull and squeezed her brain just as painfully as when she'd first entered the water. Her eyes automatically closed in intense discomfort. She forced her eyes to open again, despite the pain of salt stinging her eyes and grabbed at the armored figure. She pulled him toward her, dragging him upwards and then clamped both arms around him.

As they broke the surface of the water, he woke up, bucking and struggling against her. Crink, he was strong!

"Ashla!" she shouted. It was difficult to get any words out. She huffed hard between breaths, not even sure if Ashla or Jade could hear her above the waves lapping against the side of the ship. "Reel us in.- Ow! - He's fighting me!"

She released an arm and smacked the armored figure on the side of the helmet in annoyance. "Hey Mandalorian! Stop- struggling! "

The man froze at her words and twisted to try to see her. He almost appeared to try to speak before slumping into her arms unconscious. He was even more difficult to hold onto when he was a soggy unconscious burden.

"Jade, haul- us- up!" Xyra shouted.

"Working on it!" Jade shouted down, using the large crane to drop down their heaviest fishing net. Her sister was exceptionally skilled when it came to operating the fishing gear, even though she didn't like to admit it. She'd always rather be doing something else other than being on the boat. Xyra was exceptionally grateful for her sister's skills now as she managed to haul them both up like a prized harvest, not that there was much to harvest from the seas anymore these days. Not since the war. She released the Mandalorian, letting him free into the grip of the net next to her. No need to hold onto him anymore. The net was sturdy enough.

She was halfway up to the ship, arms unwrapped tightly around her body, shivering uncontrollably when the Oppee awoke. At any other time, she'd probably be thrilled to hear the sound of enraged Oppee female. But, now was not the time. The enormous sea creature awoke and slammed into the side of the ship. Jade and Ashla both screamed. Xyra was too cold and frozen with shock to react.

The Oppee reared up out of the water coming eye to eye with her in the net.

Xyra stared at it frozen. She knew Oppees could briefly go on land, but had no idea they could rise up so high above sea level. She was absolutely frozen in fascination and dully realized this was likely the last thing she would ever see-

Blast after blast of pinpoint blue bolts rang out from the net next to her. The Oppee shrieked and reared and thrashed in agony up as the bolts hit it precisely in the eye. The sound was so tremendous Xyra covered her frozen ears with her shaking hands. The creatures dove beneath the surface and was gone. She stared in shock at the Mandalorian. She could barely make a face behind the visor with the glare of the spotlight still shining all around them.

"I was right," the man said softly, in an accent she could not identify, "it was the eyes." And, then he slumped back and passed out again, still clutching a blaster in his grip.

Jade immediately started moving the net again, lowering them onto the deck of the ship. Xyra collapsed onto the deck, still curled into a tight ball and shivering uncontrollably, unable to move on her own anymore. Jade unwrapped her the net from around her and tried to pull her to her feet. Xyra cried out, as her cold limbs protested any movement.

"That was insane," her sister said, wrapping Xyra into a thick coat. She shook her head in disbelief and launched in on a serious lecture."You could have gotten yourself killed. Can't believe that Oppee woke up. It almost destroyed the ship and all of us with it!" She rubbed her arms vigorously up and down against Xyra's limbs. "I'm usually the one that does stupid things, not you! What were you thinking?!" Xyra groaned as blood flow started to return to her limbs and pushed her sister off.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," she protested.

"You're hypothermic, you idiot," her sister grumbled, tugging the coat even more tightly around her. She pointed to the unconscious figure, still wrapped in the net, now bleeding sluggishly on the deck. "He saved you. He saved all of us."

Xyra closed her eyes for a moment, trying to block out the screams of the Oppee. She shook her head. "Maybe. I don't know. He could have been saving himself."

"Regardless, he saved you from your own stupidity," Jade said. "Now we have to figure out what to do with him. He's on our ship." She knelt down next to the unconscious form. "And, he's not dead. We'll have to do something with him."

Ashla pushed a dura-therm container into Xyra's hands, quickly yanked off the cap, and poured a steaming cupful of liquid into it. It was old caf leftover from the morning, bitter enough to scrape the barnacles off the side of the boat, but it was still hot. Anything warm was welcome. Xyra tossed down the contents. Her shivering stopped. She shrugged herself into the coat fully, tugging it on and knelt down next to her sister. Ashla joined them, staring down curiously at the newcomer.

"He's pretty chewed up," Ashla said. "Looks like his armor saved him from getting ripped to pieces, but he's still going to need medical attention."

Xyra examined his injuries with a critical eye. "We will need to sew him up. His injuries can't wait until we get back to port. He won't make it." She'd gone to school for science, but she had some medical training and had adapted it for the post-war conditions on the Andoan moon.  
  
Jade stared at the injured man with a critical eye. "He's a mess. I don't know what you were thinking."  
  
Jade was right. Xyra hadn't been thinking. But, the man was in their care and now they were stuck with him. It would be wrong, somehow, to dump him off the deck. The war had hardened them all, but even here on this frozen moon they weren't _that_ cold. They still had some heart. "Now is not the time, Jade. Help me get him down below. Ashla, I need you to get me the large medical kit and I'll need you to sterilize some extra supplies for me."

It was awkward trying to maneuver the armored man belowdecks, but fortunately, he remained unconscious while they fumbled and struggled their way through it. They set him down on the tiny spare bunk behind the galley where the lighting was the brightest. Xyra tried to get a better glimpse of his injuries, even as they carried him. _The Manifest Destiny_ was an old fishing boat converted into a research vessel. The medical kit was all salvaged supplies. No bacta. Nothing on this planet was the same since what happened five years before. They were lucky they still had their ship, slow as it was. All the best ships in the fleet had been destroyed in the war.

# # #

Hok drifted in and out of the hazy twilight of unconsciousness. It was better when he was blacked out. Each time he came closer to being fully awake, he was aware of how much everything _hurt_. And, shab, someone was jabbing his side again and again. Why? He groaned and tried to swat the hand away.

"Jade, hold his hand. I don't want to stab with the needle."

"Oh, I'll glad hold his hand, but I'd like to point out you are already stabbing him with the needle, repeatedly."

Hok struggled to get his eyes open and make sense of the sounds around him. The words seemed to keep cutting in and out, like a helmet with a bad transmitter. Krek! He had to comm the Captain! There were Mandalorians on the planet! This could spell real trouble for them!

He struggled to sit up, still not quite able to get his eyes opened fully. He was hit with a wave of nausea.

"Jade, come on, hold him still!"

"I'm trying! You see how many muscles he's got on him? He's insanely strong! Try talking to him or something, Xyra. Your voice could put anyone to sleep."

"Very funny. Eh... hey, uh... Mandalorian? Hold still. We need to get you sewed back up."

Hok blinked in confusion, not quite able to make out all of their words and not fully cognizant enough to form words of his own.

"He's pretty out of it. What do you think he was he doing on Oppee hunting grounds?"

"Obviously he is not from here. Maybe he didn't _know_ he was in Oppee territory."

"That's your scientific explanation?" Hok heard the sound of light female laughter. "Makes sense actually."

"Bad luck, really. Oppees are mating this time of year. They get unusually territorial."

"Could be worse, I guess."

"How could it be worse? He nearly got bit it half."

"Well, the Oppee could've mistaken _him_ for a mate!"

Hok managed to pry one eye and stare in annoyance at the two figures above him. Directly in his line of sight, he could see a woman brandishing a needle. She made eye contact with him. "Just hold still alright? I'll finish as fast as I can." She looked over him and addressed the second figure in the room. "Jade, prepare the sea cucumber. It should numb the pain."

A few minutes later, something cool and sticky was applied to his leg and side. He jerked back from the touch to his injuries, but then sighed with relief as the skin began to tingle before going numb. He drifted back off to sleep.

# # #

Sabre, Jag and Flex shot at the sea creature, trying to get a clear shot without hitting their sergeant. The creature started dragging him into the sea. The three of them increased the intensity of their shots. Less concerned about a stray shot glancing off of Hok's armor and more concerned about never seeing him again. A message scrolled across Jag's HUD coming in from Hok.

 _[CT-4356]-'Hok'_ \- "Aim for the eyes!"

Jag dropped to a knee and succeeded in scoring several shots on the thick skull of the creature but it was moving too quickly to get a clear shot in the eye socket. And, then they were gone. Hok and the giant sea serpent.

_Fek! Fek! Fek!_

Sabre signed to him, rapidly demanding what they should do next. Jag was next in line for command of the squad after Hok. He wracked his brain for something relevant from his training that would cover a scenario like this. Alright, Sarge has been dragged off to sea by a giant creature of unknown origin. And, now? He stared out at the darkened sea. There was no sign of Hok. No! He couldn't accept that he was gone. They'd served together since the start of the war.

Sabre pointed out to sea, spotted the ship a moment before the bright spotlight clicked on illuminating the area.

The three scouts watched from shore, riveted, as the large fishing trawler dropped multiple depth charges and someone leapt off the deck of the ship.

A new message popped up on his HUD.

[CC-2127]-'Travis'-"Scout Team, requesting status. Over."

Jag's knees nearly sank with relief. With the crisis at hand with the Sergeant, it hadn't even occurred to him to call back to the others for help.

[CT-8148]'Jag'-"Sir, this is Jag. We've got a situation here. We may have lost Sergeant Hok." He continued to stare at the boat, zooming in with his HUD to get a better view. Was that Hok they were reeling in with the net? It was hard to tell from this distance. He felt a surge of hope and then saw several bursts of blaster fire. Krek! Were the people on the boat attacking Hok?!

[Travis] "Hold, Jag, getting Captain Rex on the comm, as well."

[CT-7567]-'Rex'-"This is Captain Rex. Report."

[Jag] "Captain, Sergeant Hok was attacked and dragged off to sea by a giant local serpent. We couldn't get to him in time. The creature's skin was resistant to blaster fire. But, he was still alive at the time he was dragged into the water. I think there's a chance he's not dead. There's a boat out there. A large one. It looks like they pulled him up. I just saw blaster fire, though. I don't know if that was Hok firing his weapon or what it means. I can't tell from this distance."

[Rex] "Double your watch and keep an eye out for that boat and more of those creatures. It's too dark for us to send any troopers out to you right now. Your highest priority is keeping the rest of your men safe. Check back in with myself or Lieutenant Travis every twenty minutes. We'll try to make contact with the locals and see if we can get Hok returned."

[Jag] "Understood. Jag out." He stared back out to sea. A thick marine layer was swirling around them further obscuring their view. Sabre and Flex had both dug out their binoculars and were trying to get a better of what was happening on the ship. But, within minutes, visibility worsened to near zero. They would have no advanced warning of those sea creatures sneaking up on them and they could not see what was happening to the fourth member of their team. But, the Captain had given his word he would work to get Hok back, and even in a war of broken promises, Jag believed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am trying something new in this chapter to represent the communications between the deaf clones. Since clones adapt very quickly, my thinking is they compensate for their deafness in five ways:  
> 1) use voice to text transcription on their HUDs  
> 2) use their wrist compads for texting (think of an oversized Apple watch or an iPhone strapped to your arm)  
> 3) use hand signals more. Clones use hand signals to communicate efficiently during battle. This would be part of their training. They could easily add to these signals and create their own version of sign language. Knowing the clones, the language would probably be very colorful.  
> 4) read lips (this only works when helmets are off, which is why this option is low on the list)  
> 5) increase the audio pickup so all signals coming into their helmets are amplified. The effectiveness of this approach depends upon the level of hearing impairment. 
> 
> While I hope it is obvious from the hints in the chapter, these locals on Ando have been through their own war which has devastated their planet. (More details about this will come out in upcoming chapters.) Their planet is arcane and backward by Galactic standards, and they have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy.


	41. Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex shrugged. He hadn't thought of it in those terms. "I wouldn't put it that way, Travis. I didn't do anything. Cody and Generals Kenobi did all the work." Mentioning Cody brought a pang. "With backup from General Skywalker. He was providing air support."
> 
> "So, how many?" Travis asked, again, going back to his earlier question.
> 
> "I don't know exactly. Hundreds. From all different divisions." Rex looked around at the assembled troopers, "Kind of like this. But again, it wasn't me."
> 
> "Still wondering who your mystery Jedi was," Travis muttered under his breath, still loud enough for Rex to hear.
> 
> Rex shot him a look. "Keep wondering."
> 
> Travis grinned and Rex knew it wasn't the last of the issue he'd hear from his brother. "Go on, though," Travis prompted. "You returned to the ship, and then?"
> 
> The rest of the conversations died out, and everyone turned their attention back to the two of them. Rex took a deep breath, looking around at the assembled troopers. As he looked at all the faces looking back up at his, reflected in the firelight, he realized that each of them had a story to tell. And, he intended to make sure that all of them lived long enough to tell their stories.

Hok woke up to hear a pleasant female voice telling him stories. He hurt everywhere, but most especially in his leg which felt nearly chewed off. He could hear the sound of a ship's engines humming steadily in the background. It was not the same sound as a hyperdrive engine. Not even close. This was much more primitive. The sound was much different in resonance. Gah. Wait. Sounds? He could hear now?

His hearing was cutting in and out, making it difficult to get a good gauge on his surroundings.

As he started to gain more awareness, he realized his side also burned. Intensely. Not quite with the same pain as a blaster bolt, more like a vibroblade stab. Gah. Ow. Make that multiple vibroblade stabs.

He focused on the woman's voice. Having something to focus on helped with the pain. Her voice had a pleasant cadence and blended in well with the background sound of the ship's engines. He was strangely exhausted, but he tried to focus on her words, even with his hearing cutting in and out. "… conflict... escalating… wiped out ... the hyperdrives... _none_ of them came home..." Hok heard the woman's voice hitch… "… no ships… no way to mount a rescue… all that's left... less than 500."

Gah. What the fek was she talking about? But, he understood battle and he understood loss. Sounded like she'd lost some brothers. Hok was confused but clearly heard the sadness in the woman's voice. He struggled to open his eyes. This was a battle in itself, but eventually, he managed to get them open and focus on her face. She was humanoid. No. More specifically, she was human. Fair-skinned. Auburn hair pulled back in a severe bun. Her eyes were green, like the colors of his armor. Compared to the identical colorings of his brothers, it was not necessarily unsettling, just very different.

"Ma'am? Are you alright?" His voice was raspy, but he could _hear_ himself. He'd almost forgotten what he sounded like.

The woman startled, surprised he was awake. "Yes... fine," she said quickly, swiping at one of her eyes. He stared at her, strangely fascinated by the gesture. ".. sorry." She stammered. "...not usually...such a mess." His hearing was still glitching out, but he could piece together her words well enough. He stared at her so he could read her lips and compensate for his faulty hearing.

She sucked in a deep breath, quickly regaining her composure. "How are you feeling?"

Hok considered the question, trying to get an accurate assessment of his battle readiness. He shook his head. "I'm not yet fit to fight. I think I'll still need to rest for a bit." He tentatively tried to sit up to get a better gauge of his injuries but groaned as the slight movement caused everything to pull and explode with fiery pain.

She put out a hand to halt his movements, shaking her head. "Don't move around too much. You're held together by stitches."

Stitches? That'll leave a scar. Something to show off to his brothers-

Gah! His brothers. He looked around wildly for his helmet and the rest of his kit. "My armor? Where is it?"

The woman regarded him with suspicion. "You're not going to try anything, are you, Mandalorian?"

Hok stared at her as if she'd grown two heads. "Mandalorian?" His brothers would get a good laugh over that one, although some of the Mandalorians who trained the ARCs and command troopers would likely be wildly insulted. Hok had never met any of them as he'd been trained in an entirely different section of Tipoca City, but he'd heard stories of the Mandalorian trainers. He was glad to have avoided the lot of them. "Ma'am, I'm a clone soldier of the Republic."

She stared at him, brow furrowing in confusion as if his words meant nothing to her.

He tried again. "A member of the Grand Army of the Republic? The GAR?"

She shook her head.

"You've not heard of the Grand Army, ma'am?" It was very common for civvies to be unfamiliar with the faces of clones, even though they all wore the same face. But, every civvie watched the holonews. They'd seen the propaganda and knew _of_ the war. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about it one way or another, although many civvies did not look upon them favorably. It was the reason why brothers kept to themselves and did not often interact with civvies unless specifically ordered to on relief missions or to evacuate the hapless fools when their villages were bombed and such. "You've not seen the HoloNews, then?"

"Our communications were cut off during the war. We have no access to the holonet," the woman said. "Or, any long-range communications."

Fascinating. Hok wanted to know more about this war she'd been speaking of, but for now he needed his armor. He decided sharing a bit of information couldn't hurt. "Ma'am, I am Trooper CT-4356. My vode call me 'Hok.' I am not a Mandalorian, although I understand your confusion. I am part of an army commissioned to protect the Republic from the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They initiated an attack on the Republic, a Separatist crisis, 14 months ago, causing thousands of Republic star systems to secede and force a new government known as the Confederacy. My brothers and I have been tasked to defend the Republic against the Confederacy's battle-droid army."

The woman's eyes widened. "You're a soldier? How did you end up here?"

Hok hesitated, wondering how much he should say about the exact circumstances that landed him here. Simplicity might be best. He'd already overwhelmed the poor civvie with a lot of info. "Our transport crashed." That was enough of a truth. "Ma'am, may I have my armor? I need to contact the others."

"The ones who crashed with you? We saw others on the shore."

Hok nodded. "Yes." Not sure yet if he should admit there were another 96 clone troopers other than the ones she'd seen on the shore. There was an advantage in numbers and he knew very little about these civvies.

The woman nodded, and arose, and returned a moment later with a battered wooden crate containing the armor pieces and set them down on the cot next to him. She carefully levered him up, tucking something soft behind his back. It hurt to move, but he appreciated her thoughtfulness. The Kaminoans never much cared if they hurt them. Considering she knew nothing about him, she was being very brotherly.

He reached for the crate.

"Allow me," she said, handing it to him, to prevent him from overreaching. "Your other piece, the black bodysuit, is drying. It will need repair."

Hok nodded his thanks and studied his armor. Both his leg and ab pieces were severely damaged. It would be a difficult job to repair the pieces, but maybe not impossible if he could track down the right supplies to patch the plastoid-armor alloy. The woman pointed to the bite marks. "

Not many folks get attacked by an Oppee and live to tell the tale. I've never known anyone to survive such an attack." "That's what the beastie was called?" Hok had some difficulties reading lips when the words were completely unfamiliar to him.

"I suppose you could call it that. It's an Andoan sea oppee. That was an unusually large one, too. It was at least the length of this ship."

"Oppee," Hok repeated the word carefully, studying her lips intently to try to carefully parse out the unfamiliar syllables. He had more questions, but they'd have to wait. He needed to call his brothers and the Captain.

He slid his gauntlet onto his arm so he could easily access his compad and keyed in Jag's com code. He began quickly typing out a text message.

 _[CT-4356] 'Hok'_ \- This is Sergeant Hok. Requesting status from scout team. Over.

 _[CT-8148] 'Jag'_ \- We thought you might be dead! We are holding position until morning as per orders from Captain Rex. He is attempting to contact the locals so you can be retrieved. What is your status, over?

 _[Hok]-_ We are in transit. Stand by for further information and relay to the Captain.

Hok looked up from his compad. The woman was watching him with wide-eyed curiosity. "Ma'am, where is this vessel headed?"

"We're headed back to port. Ando Town. Coordinates 37.00058 x 121.5683. We saw the others there on shore, but there was way we could drop you off there. This ship is too big."

Hok nodded and focused on his wrist comm, entering the coordinates and sending them to Jag.

While he waited for a reply, he turned his attention back to the woman. "How is it I'm still alive, then?" Hok was finding it hard to believe he'd beat death twice in one day. He had managed to both escape his fate at the hands of the Kaminoans and the sea creature determined to drag him down to the bottom of the sea.

"You were attacked as our ship was passing by. It was fortunate timing. The Oppee was preparing to dive down, probably to bring you down to her nest. It is their mating season right now. She may have young to feed."

Hok scowled. "Krek. That's not good. Do you think she'll attack again?"

Xyra shook her head. "It's unlikely. I don't know if you remember how much of what happened, but you injured her severely right before we were pulled up into the boat. The Oppee was ramming the ship. You stopped her with several well-placed shots. I normally would not approve of such a thing as a scientist, but you did save all of our lives."

Hok looked thoughtful. "Ah, I do remember that now. I wasn't sure if my blaster would still fire after being submerged in saltwater."

"Lucky for us all it did."

Hok peered into the crate, relieved to see his blaster was in there. He'd need to give it a thorough cleaning to remove the corrosive salt. All of his kit would need a thorough cleaning-

He peered up, suddenly aware the woman was speaking to him again. He shook his head. "Sorry." He pointed to his ears. "I have difficulty hearing. I have concussive injuries from a blast. Blew out my ear drums."

The woman's eyes widened. "You're deaf!"

"Just recently, I regained a small amount of hearing. But, mostly I read lips, yes." He carefully extended his hand, mindful of his injuries. "Trooper CT-4356. My vode call me 'Hok."

She gave a strange wave of her hand which Hok assumed was a local greeting. "I'm Xyra."

"Vode," she reported the word carefully.

"Brothers," he translated.

"Ah," she nodded with understanding, "you keep referring to your brothers. They must be very worried. My sister is the one who helped pull you from the water. My cousin is the Captain of this vessel."

Hok nodded with appreciation. "That is also like having brothers, then."

She smiled. "I've never thought of it that way, but yes, just like that. It appears we have something in common. I'm sorry we couldn't put you back ashore by your brothers. But, we have a good doctor in Ando Town. She can look at your injuries when we get there."

His lips quirked. "Eh, I think I've had enough stitches for one day, ma'am. I think a prefer a clone medic."

Xyra laughed. "I can't imagine those stitches were very pleasant. But, Ando Town isn't all bad. Get some rest. I'll wake you when we get to port."

Hok nodded. She left the room. His wrist comm buzzed demanding his attention.

 _[Jag]-_ Relayed coordinates over to the Captain.

 _[Hok]_ \- Be vigilant for more of those creatures. I disabled the one who attacked me, but there could be more.

 _[Jag]-_ Did you hit in the eyes?

 _[Hok]_ \- Dead center. And, I was tied in a net.

 _[Jag]_ -That's legend, Sarge. I can't wait to tell the others.

 _[Hok_ ]- Stay safe, Jag. Rendezvous soon. Hok out.

Hok settled back against the pillows and passed out asleep within seconds.

# # #

Ashla looked out at the sea, lost in thought as she piloted the _Manifest Destiny_ toward shore. She looked up as her cousin entered. "How is our passenger doing?"

"Just checked on him. Sleeping now. Or passed out. Hard to tell," Xyra said. She looked out at the sea and was silent a long moment.

"You're awfully silent. What's going on?" Ashla pressed.

"He has other injuries which go beyond the Oppee bite. He says he's a soldier of the Republic. There's a war going on out there. The others that were with him. He calls them his brothers. I'm wondering if they are also soldiers. He referred to himself as being part of a Grand Army of the Republic."

Ashla took all of this information in. "A lot has changed since we've been out of touch with the outside world. We had a war. Now, they have a war going on. Where does it end?"

Xyra sighed. "I don't know." She gazed out at the waves. "He mentioned he's also hard-of-hearing and until recently, he was fully deaf. I wonder..."

"You're thinking about your research," Ashla filled in.

"Yes," Xyra responded. "I don't know much about him or these others he keeps calling his brothers. But, he's human. He should respond to the treatments I've developed the same as our townspeople."

Ashla shrugged. "It's worth a try. I know you are very passionate about all this goop we are collecting from the sea."

Xyra frowned severely. "This 'goop' is my life's work. Our town is badly in need of-"

Ashla rolled her eyes. "Spare me the lecture. I'm only here because there's nothing else to do."

Xyra chuckled. "Unlikely. For all your talk, you've always been my biggest champion."

Ashla snorted. "Still a bunch of goop. Get out of my cabin. I'm trying to captain the ship here. I think your sister is cooking something up in the galley."

Following the smell of lightly fried sea vegetables, she headed down to the galley. Jade was singing to herself as she prepared a side of seaweed salad to go with the stir fry. Her sister was a masterful cook and the smells were already making her stomach growl. With the war on Ando, her sister had never had the opportunity to finish school. But, her sister had never been much for school anyway.

Jade looked up, pausing in her work, noticing Xyra. "You need me?"

Xyra shook her head.

"You have that kind of stupid, faraway look on your face," Jade observed. "The one you get when you are either thinking about your research or thinking about..." Her words drifted off and she turned her attention back to finishing the salad. It was unspoken between them. They didn't speak about the sudden death of the rest of their family.

"You want help?" Xyra offered.

Jade raised up an eyebrow skeptically. "You're terrible in the galley."

Xyra washed her hands. "True. Show me again. Maybe I'll get better at it."

"Doubtful," Jade said, but she still talked her sister through the process of seasoning the salad. As she did, Xyra told her everything she'd learned from Hok. Jade's eyes widened.

"Wow, so how many _brothers_ does he have?" she asked, her eyes gleaming with interest, as they finished preparing the meal and sat down to eat.

"I don't know," Xyra chided her, "we only saw the three onshore."

Jade made a speculative noise in her throat. "Weren't there reports, though, of a possible ship going down on the southwestern shore? What if there are _more_ of them?"

Xyra hadn't considered that possibility. How many brothers could Hok possibly have?

The sisters ate together and then brought a plate up to Ashla in the cabin.

"I sent a transmission back to town," Ashla said, relaxing in her worn synth-leather chair as she ate her meal and Jade took the helm. "Told them we plucked someone out of the sea."

"How did Karyn react? Can't imagine our fearless town leader is too thrilled about news of these offworlders."

"She was too busy to speak at the moment. Some medical emergency or something, but sent word we should proceed with caution."

"I don't think he's a threat."

"We know next to nothing about him," Ashla argued. "We should take his blaster away. Maybe consider tying him down as a precaution."

Jade patted the pouch at her belt where she kept her long dagger. "I'm ready if he tries anything."

"Leave him be," Xyra bristled, indignant on behalf of the soldier who lay unconscious down below. "He's _injured_ and as you pointed out, he saved us. "

"If you're wrong," Ashla said, leveling her with a look, "you're putting our lives and those of the folks in Ando Town in danger."

# # #

Rex stared moodily into the fire, thinking of the scouts who were still out there and trying to work out the logistics of how to get to the coordinates relayed by Jag.

It was a long way from their current location and they had no ground transportation. It would be a difficult slog and they many injured men. They could not take everyone. The only possibility would be to send out another scouting party to retrieve Hok. He didn't like continually dividing up the group, but he didn't see any other choice.

"Worried about the scouts?" Travis asked, settling next to him on a jumpseat cushion pulled from the wreck.

Rex nodded and then also signed yes to ensure Travis understood.

"I'll gather volunteers in the morning to start heading to those coordinates. I'll lead the team," Travis volunteered.

Rex shook his head. "I don't like it. You don't have the right cold-weather gear. We don't know what's out there. You could-"

Travis put his head back and laughed. "Listen to you! I would think you'd be glad to be rid of me!" He placed a reassuring hand on Rex's pauldron. "We need to retrieve our man. It has to be done. I'll be alright." They were both silent a moment, staring in the fire and enjoying the comforting hum of the chatter of the men around them. "What happened to you?"

"Hmmm?" Rex asked distractedly and then focused on Travis.

"Your leg," Travis clarified. "Why couldn't they fix you?"

Rex stared at the fire for a long moment before answering. Then, turned back toward Travis, "Maybe they could have. I'm still trying to figure out if I did the right thing."

"Do tell?"

"I was shot," Rex said curtly.

"Fekkin' di'kut. I know that part. I want details."

"Fine," Rex relented. "The shot to my leg shattered my knee cap." He paused, not sure how to put the rest of the story into context.

"I'll bet you took that shot and kept on fighting, Captain!" called out a nearby clone, who'd taken interest in the story.

Rex snorted. "Actually, I fell down in the dirt and passed out. But, I don't think I was out for long. I came to and I was about to be overrun by commando droids."

"So, you took them out, right, Captain?" asked another clone, eager for details.

"I did. Barely. Right before I threw up all over."

This received a chuckle from the clones who'd taken interest in his story. A few clones moved closer so they could hear the tale.

"That, I would have like to have seen," said Travis.

Rex shook his head. "Not one of my finer moments. Anyway, because we were in a remote location and far from the RV point-"

"Wait. Who is this we? Any brother that I know?" Travis interrupted.

"Not a brother. I was with a Jedi."

"Skywalker?" Travis quickly asked. Some of the troopers watching repeated 'Skywalker', with quick whispered comments to each other about the famous Jedi.

Rex shook his head. "Skywalker was running a diversion elsewhere."

Travis eyed Rex, not letting him off the hook, "Not Skywalker. Another stick swinger, then. Windu? Plo Koon? Secura? Kenobi?" Travis questioned.

Rex shook his head, eager to change the topic. "What does it matter? A Jedi is a Jedi. Not much difference between them."

"Says a clone," quipped Travis.

This earned a good-natured chuckle from those gathered around.

"It doesn't matter," Rex said defensively. "Drop it, okay? Doesn't matter who it was." He continued on with his story. "It took several days before we could return to the ship-"

"Why?" Travis interrupted.

Rex shook his head, with annoyance, "Travis, you're worse than a cadet!"

The troopers around them laughed.

"But, why couldn't you be med-evaced?" Travis pointed to Rex's leg, "That severe of an injury. Shattered leg, like that, Rex. That would be an automatic Code Red. And, you're a command-line officer, Rex. They should have you out of there immediately."

Rex shook his head again, "There were other circumstances, Travis."

"Such as?" Travis pushed.

It was completely quiet now, around the firepit. Everyone was intrigued by Rex's story, wondering how the Captain of the 501st ended up on the Kamino transport with them. Rex took a deep dragging breath. He hadn't intended to delve into this level of detail. He hesitated another long moment and then continued. "There were hostages," Rex started out quietly, then his voice picked up strength as he remembered the emotions from that time. "Human shields. Sending a team down to evac me could have jeopardized the whole mission. These prisoners, well, they were-

"Brothers," Travis finished grimly, guessing the rest.

Rex nodded, quiet for a moment, remembering back to when he'd made that fateful decision several long weeks ago.

Travis looked at Rex, "So, you sacrificed everything to save these brothers?"

Rex shrugged. He hadn't thought of it in those terms. "I wouldn't put it that way, Travis. I didn't do anything. Cody and Generals Kenobi did all the work." Mentioning Cody brought a pang. "With backup from General Skywalker. He was providing air support."

"So, how many?" Travis asked, again, going back to his earlier question.

"I don't know exactly. Hundreds. From all different divisions." Rex looked around at the assembled troopers, "Kind of like this. But again, it wasn't me."

"Still wondering who your mystery Jedi was," Travis muttered under his breath, still loud enough for Rex to hear.

Rex shot him a look. "Keep wondering."

Travis grinned and Rex knew it wasn't the last of the issue he'd hear from his brother. "Go on, though," Travis prompted. "You returned to the ship, and then?"

The rest of the conversations died out, and everyone turned their attention back to the two of them.

Rex took a deep breath, looking around at the assembled troopers. As he looked at all the faces looking back up at his, reflected in the firelight, he realized that each of them had a story to tell. And, he intended to make sure that all of them lived long enough to tell their stories. Rex stretched a bit, cracking his neck and shoulders within his armor, making himself comfortable as he addressed everyone. "So, my leg had been shattered, and it had been a few days before I got to a proper medbay. Our usual medics were sent off on a relief mission so I was left in the hands of just these medical tinnies."

There were sympathetic grimaces from the assembled clones.

"The medical tinny looks at my leg and wants to-" Rex makes a chopping motion with his hand on his injured leg, "take it clear off."

There were some grimaces and nods from the troopers assembled, particularly those who were amputees.

Travis whistled, shaking his head, "Can't imagine that went over well with you. One tinny shoots you in the leg and another wants to finish the job."

Rex scowled, remembering that night on _the Resolute._ "I wouldn't even consider the treatment they were proposing. I mean, I probably should have considered it. But, I wasn't in the best state of mind at that time. So, I was shipped off to ArmyMed the next morning. I was dumped in bacta, but my condition didn't improve enough. I had nerve damage."

"So, you ended up here," Travis finished.

Rex nodded solemnly. He stared into the fire, remembering the emotional pain of being told he was no longer wanted or needed as part of the Grand Army of the Republic. The other troopers around the fire shook their heads, also remembering the moment they'd been told they were no longer wanted or needed. It was completely silent for several long moments, with only the crackling of the fire. Some of the other troopers began to move away, back to where they'd been before Rex had started his story.

Travis and Rex sat in silence, side-by-side, staring into the fire together. Finally, Travis took a deep breath, and looked out over the encampment, "Rex, do you think that you getting your leg shot out, and me going deaf, is because we were _meant_ to end up here?"

Rex didn't say anything but looked out on the camp for a long time. They both watched the easy camaraderie between the different brothers, from all the different divisions, assembled together around the campfire. Rex stared at Travis for a long time without saying anything. His brown expressive eyes were full of thought. He nodded at Travis, put one hand onto his shoulder, and held it there for a long moment.

"Thanks, vod," Rex said. He looked around and made eye contact with many of the brothers around the fire who looked back at him. He realized then it was the start of something. They all had this in common.

"I'm still not sorry I hit you," Travis said, his eyes still teasing and full of mischief.

Rex snorted with amusement. "Noted." He closed his eyes and let the warmth of the fire and the company of his brothers wash over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A regular blaster should still be able to fire a shot after having been submerged for a brief period of time. (Much like one of our iPhones can still function after an unexpected dunk in a body of water.) There are special blasters designed just for underwater combat. The DC-12U beam rifle, also known as the scuba rifle.
> 
> While researching the issue of whether Hok's blaster would still work, I found this delightfully nerdy article about blaster speed published in WIRED. Apparently, you can outrun a blaster bolt.
> 
> https://www.wired.com/2012/05/star-wars-blaster-speed/


	42. Nightmares and Visions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex has been having visions

Xyra checked in again on the sleeping soldier, the words of her cousin bothering her more than she cared to admit. What if he _was_ a threat? They knew so little about him. Maybe should she tie him down to the cot and confiscate his weapons and equipment.

He was mumbling restlessly in his sleep, his head moving fitfully back and forth. She tucked the crate with his armor and blaster into a corner of the galley. It wasn't necessarily _confiscating_ them. She was just moving them out of the way. She flipped over a box of supplies and used it as an impromptu bench to sit next to his cot.

"We're under attack! Requesting back-up!" Hok muttered, sweat beading off his brow. "There's too many!"

Xyra reached out and felt his brow, relieved to see there was no fever. It could still come with the Oppee bite, but she'd hoped her disinfection procedures had been enough and the quick application of her experimental remedies. With no bacta available on the planet anymore, she'd turned to the sea for medicine. Ashla called it her "goop" because of the inherent stickiness of the substance. But, echinoderm, or anything from the phylum Echinodermata, were remarkable in their properties in treating neurodegeneration.

She held up a small glass vial of the strangely orange-violet substance to the light. It was difficult and sometimes dangerous working finding the proper starfish to harvest, but Xyra knew her research could save many lives. She sighed, just wishing she'd made her discoveries earlier. Maybe she could have helped more people during the Great War. Those days were gone now. The war was over.

"No! No! No!" Hok muttered, his face lined with pain.

The war did not seem to be over for this soldier, though. Whatever battles he fought, he still relived them in his sleep.

And, she was sure his injuries would likely be paining him again soon. She carefully peeled back the gauze covering the stitches on his side and inspected them carefully. There were no signs of infection and the wound already looked slightly improved. He was strong and healed quickly. All good signs. She opened the jar and carefully smoothed more of the healing balm over the wound. She repeated the procedure with his leg and then redressed his wounds.

She spoke to him softly. "A clone soldier, huh? There were three more dressed like you onshore. Are any more like you? Now, I'm curious."

He did not wake, but her touch and voice seemed to soothe him. As a scientist, she had to admit he was _very_ intriguing. But, there was more to it, too. He'd faced down an _Oppee_. While she did not condone shooting the creature, or any of Ando's magnificent creatures, it was an incredible feat. He was strangely humble in the way he spoke and brutally plain-spoken and honest. She hoped he would wake because she wished to speak with him again.

"Hey," Ashla called softly, poking her head into the door of the galley, "Karyn is on the line. And, she has questions. A ton of them."

"Oh, I'm sure she does," Xyra sighed, strangely disappointed to be pulled away.

Ashla cast a long look of unabashed curiosity at the bare-chested Hok, covered only with a thin blanket.

Xyra shooed her out of the room.

"What?" Ashla objected, casting another look over her shoulder at Hok. "Not like we have a lot of _men_ on _this_ planet. Seriously. Other than the ancient ones that couldn't fight."

Xyra gave her cousin a bodily shove back out of the small back room behind the galley where Hok was sleeping. "That's no way to speak about our elders. And, it still doesn't make it right for you to _look._ Leave him be."

Ashla huffed lightly with amusement. "Come on, our fearless leader is waiting for you on the comm. You may need to talk her down a bit. She wants to know more about this soldier we picked up, and she's also very concerned about that ship that went down. She's planning on taking a whole contingent of the warriors over to the southwest shore to check it out."

Crink. Just what they needed.

Xyra had no idea if there were any more like Hok other than the few she'd seen shouting for him onshore when he'd been attacked by the Oppee. But, if there were more like him, it would not be wise to go charging into their encampment. Their leader, Karyn, had held the survivors of Ando Town together for nearly five years now. She could be cool-headed and methodical. Xyra considered her a valued colleague and trusted her judgment. But, there were other times, when Karyn let her passions get the better of her judgment and the Women Warriors were just trouble sometimes. This could end very badly.

# # #

The fire was dying down and the night chill was more pronounced. Some clones headed inside to their assigned sleeping area in the one sealed bulkhead. Rex had opted to stay outside in one of the small emergency tents from the downed transport. There was enough space inside for two troopers, cramped together. Travis had assigned himself as Rex's tentmate. For someone who claimed to despise him, Travis wouldn't leave him alone.

Mako was still full of energy and headed inside to see if he could help out the medic, Lance, or assist the men in the biobeds.

"He's a good trooper, that one," Travis said, gesturing with his chin toward Mako's disappearing back.

Rex gave a non-committal grunt, belatedly aware Travis couldn't hear it due to his deafness.

"I'll take first shift, monitoring for word from our scouts. I'll wake you," Travis said.

Rex nodded. His exhaustion so absolute he couldn't speak any longer. It was awkward maneuvering into a tent with his crutches and injured leg. He hissed with pain as he tried to get his leg down into a comfortable position for sleep and stared up at the top of the tent. His eyes were blurring with fatigue. A faded Kuati Drive Yards logo was barely visible on the material. His eyes closed on their own awkward and he didn't remember falling asleep. He had no idea who located a spare blanket or tucked it over him. He sank down into oblivion.

His sleep was not restful.

Rex was trapped in a nightmare from which he couldn't escape. It felt less surreal, and more like he was an invisible observer on an unknown battlefield.

The 501st were in trouble. Torrent Squadron were fighting valiantly but they were vastly outnumbered. Rex wanted to shout orders and re-direct the troops into an even more sustainable strategy but he could only stand by and watch his troopers get cut down. Rex couldn't identify the planet they were or the species they were fighting. They were huge. Fierce. Simian. And, they were fast and unusually skilled. Ahsoka and General Skywalker jumped into the fray.

Who was leading the 501st?

Wait. Appo? He was a _Commander_ now? Fekkin' Appo?

The Jedi did their usual impossible physical feats, deflecting and redirecting shots. And, Appo. He was _trying_. He shouted orders and attempted to reorganize the men. But, being a commander is a fine art of dedicated planning and expert implementation. And, it often required split-second decision making. The men were dying and Appo could not react fast enough.

One of the creatures took direct aim at Ahsoka. He watched the shot head directly toward her, eerily reminiscent of the shot which had taken out his leg. But, this shot was headed straight into her back. He tried to shout a warning, but his lips refused to make a sound. Before the shot could find its mark, Appo dove in front of Ahsoka. His body jerked heavily as he went down, his armor taking most of the abuse. Ahsoka squirmed free, checking on Appo, who waved her off and continued tapping out orders from his wrist comm, even though he was too injured to rise. OK, admittedly, _that_ was impressive. He nodded to the Jedi and Ahsoka jumped back into the fray.

She was magnificent, as always. She jumped and twisted, seemingly everywhere at once, defending troopers everywhere. She deflected the enemy's shots back at them. She fought back to back with Skywalker, her skills incredibly impressive.

Another of the creatures took aim at her. The fiery shot was headed directly for the back of her skull-

_No! No! No!_

"Rex, wake up!"

Rex woke up thrashing and sank a fist into plastoid.

"Alright, hey, I suppose I deserved that, but if you hit me again, I _will_ have to hit you back. Only because I'll enjoy it, of course."

Rex blinked. Completely disoriented, and struggled to place the voice and his location. He struggled to get up and fell backward again.

"Whoa," Travis said, bracing him by the arms. "Are you always like this in the mornings now? I remember you being a bit... eh... perkier?" His voice was lightly teasing, but also concerned.

It was pre-dawn. The barest hints of light were just poking through the tent flap, and he could hear sounds of camp activity outside the tent flap.

Rex stared at the Marine Lieutenant, hurt and betrayed. "Gah, fek, Travis, you didn't wake me up for my shift."

Travis snorted. "First off, you were so exhausted you were swaying on your feet. These men need a functional Captain. Second, scouts checked in several times. They're fine. They made it through the night without getting eaten. They're already on their way back." He studied him thoughtfully. "These nightmares... does that happen to you often?"

Rex shook his head. "No."

"Alright, then," he gave a dismissive wave and dropped the subject immediately. Clones were not good at discussing emotions. Rex was grateful Travis did not pursue it.

Rex rubbed his eyes, the beginnings of a fierce headache already settling in.

"I'll get you some water. You've looked better," Travis left the tent without waiting for a reply. "Maybe there's even caf. That will fix you right up." His voice took on a more serious tone. "After that, we need to discuss a plan to set out and retrieve our missing man. I have some ideas."

Travis disappeared into the pre-dawn semi-darkness.

Rex took a deep breath and tried to rise. He was unsuccessful on his first attempt. Gah. He was still exhausted. He removed his helmet and scrubbed at his face. The cold blast of arctic air helped a great deal. He took several gulping breaths.

The Kaminoans bred them to be able to handle battle stress. So, why was he having nightmares? And, why did this nightmare feel so _different_? So much like that disturbing time when he'd felt Ahsoka before?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone of you interested in nerdy scientific things (me!), Xyra's explanation is based upon some traditional remedies on a galaxy not so far far away. Echinoderms have healing properties and have been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. I selected the starfish (and came up with an "eleven-legged starfish" for Ando) since starfish are supposed to have neurogenerative properties. Since Ando has just been through a "great War" they would need to combine ancient remedies into something cutting edge.


	43. Dawn of a new day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The ship is heading to these coordinates here." He projected a map and an anticipated route. "The scouts couldn't make out too much of the ship once it departed due to the heavy marine layer, but they said it was traveling slowly. I predict it will take at least a day to return to its' port. This gives us time to head out over an overland route here," he projected a route, "and try to make it there at the same time as the ship."
> 
> Rex analyzed the proposed route. "We don't know anything about that terrain or what obstacles you will face."
> 
> "I know, exactly," Travis' whole body radiated excitement at the prospect of heading out into the unknown on a dangerous journey. 
> 
> Rex shook his head. "Fek, Travis, how have you survived the war this long?"

Rex stood outside the tent studying the pre-dawn activity around their camp. Most troopers were already up and were clustered around the area where the fire had been lit the night before. Hodges and Price were busy at work distributing rations, water, and caf.

"Cups are a scarce commodity. We'll have to share," Travis said, returning to Rex's side with a steaming cup of caf and rations bar.

Rex slid his bucket off and reached for the caf with a grateful nod of thanks. "We'll probably want to pull stuff out of the reclamation bin to extend our supplies." Rex held the cup out to Travis.

"Where do you think that cup came from?" Travis' voice held a teasing edge. He removed his Marine corps helmet. It was white and modded heavily on the sides, much like Bacara's.* It was very distinctive. No other armor had the same look as the Marine Corp design.

From this close angle, Rex could see Travis had some burn scarring on his neck, crisscrossed with tattoos in the same burgundy stripes favored by Marine command clones on their armor. Marines were overly fond of flame throwers, so he wasn't surprised to see Travis' scars and he was sure he had many more.

Travis had always been the jump-in first and think later sort of clone during training. It wasn't raw talent that had always held Travis back. It was his rash temperment.

"You're staring at me," Travis grumbled, taking a long dreg of the caf. He scowled and rubbed at his neck scars with the back of one gloved hand. "It's not easy reporting into Bacara, you know. He's one carbine short of a full blaster." He shoved the caf cup none too gently back in Rex's grip.

Rex savored a sip of caf and tactfully avoided pointing out Travis no longer reported into the hardcore clone commander. Truth was, Rex had never liked Bacara either. Wolffe always described him as one of the biggest shebs in the GAR and disliked doing joint engagements with him. Travis' time in the GAR had probably been exceptionally difficult. He handed the cup back to Travis.

"Stop looking at me, or I'll hit you again," Travis grumbled. "Eat something. You still look like something the Rancor dragged in."

Rex snorted lightly but accepted the bar. He tore it in half and handed the other piece back to Travis. "I'll get an updated inventory from Price this morning. But, I'm sure we're dangerously low on rations at this point. This ship was not stocked to feed a hundred clones for any length of time."

Travis huffed. "Our comfort and well-being was not top of mind when they sent us off to be euthanized." He tossed back the last of the caf and ate his portion of the rations bar in three giant gulps. He waited while Rex finished eating and then studied him critically. "Alright, you look a bit better." He tapped his wrist comlink and projected holoscans of the snowy landscape. "These are all the scans sent over by the scouts from the terrain they've managed to cover. They headed north and then east to follow the flow of the river down to the ocean." He pointed into the scan with his finger, showing the route of the scouts. "They stopped here when they reached the shore and darkness fell. That is where Sergeant Hok was attacked and they encountered the locals who were slightly offshore here." He pointed out into the water. "The ship is heading to these coordinates here." He projected a map and an anticipated route. "The scouts couldn't make out too much of the ship once it departed due to the heavy marine layer, but they said it was traveling slowly. I predict it will take at least a day to return to its' port. This gives us time to head out over an overland route here," he projected a route, "and try to make it there at the same time as the ship."

Rex analyzed the proposed route. "We don't know anything about _that_ terrain or what obstacles you will face."

"I know, _exactly_ ," Travis' whole body radiated excitement at the prospect of heading out into the unknown on a dangerous journey. 

Rex shook his head. "Fek, Travis, how have you survived the war this long?" Before Travis could launch into another defense of his plan, Rex put up a hand to stop him. "I agree with you. I'm just reluctant to lose any more men. Even _you_ ," he said pointedly.

Travis' lips twitched with amusement.

"It's obvious to me you were up all night planning. Alright, how many troopers do you intend on taking?"

"A small force, likely not more than six. Our most able-bodied men, able to move quickly and not need to rest much."

"I assume you've already hand-picked your team?"

Travis looked insulted. "Of course."

Rex nodded. "Alright. Get them assembled. I'd like to speak to all of you before you go." He gestured back toward the ship. "I'm going to check on the men inside, and then I'll put the troopers out here back to work on our defenses." Travis nodded and turned to go. Rex gripped by the arm, holding him back. "You better not do anything stupid out there."

Travis' lips twitched again with amusement. "You're an improvement over Bacara," he said, sliding his helmet back on and heading off.

# # #

Everything inside the ship was running like a precision chrono. Mako was working side-by-side with the medic, Lance, and doing rounds checking on the health of all of the troopers.

The pair were swabbing fresh bacta onto Tank's stump of a hip when Rex came to check in with them.

"Captain," Lance greeted. "Good to see you up and about. Travis said you had a rough night."

_Traitor._

"It was nothing," Rex deflected. "How's Torch?"

"He's stable and he made it through the night. We've assigned a rotation so there is always a trooper sitting with him, monitoring his condition. Don't think I didn't notice your deflection there."

"I'm fine. Yesterday was just a helluva' long day."

"Sure, sure, it was. Of course. Mako, finish up here, would you? I'd like to check out the Captain's ' _nothing'_ for myself." Rex opened his mouth to object, but Lance was already tugging his crutches away from him and shoving him down into a nearby jumpseat. "Bucket off."

"There is no need-"

"I didn't say you had a choice. I outrank you when it comes to matters of health," Lance said.

"Yes, as you medics are so fond of reminding me," Rex grumbled.

"Bucket off," Lance said pointedly.

Rex muttered an irritated growl low in his throat but removed his bucket. "Really, Lance, I have a lot to do- Ow! Stop that!" He swatted at the penlight Lance immediately shone in his eyes.

"Lingering photosensitivity," Lance noted. "Are you suffering from headaches or dizziness?"

Rex hesitated. He couldn't afford to be pulled out of the action. But, he'd had a mild to throbbing headache since he'd bashed into the sides of the ship the day before.

"I'll take that hesitation as a yes," Lance said. "I can give you something for the headaches. But, you need to give your body a chance to heal."

Rex kept silent. There was no use arguing with a medic. But, there was also no time for him to rest. There were too many men counting on him.

Without warning, Lance pressed on Rex's ribs.

"Fek! Warn a brother next time!" Rex protested.

Lance ran his scanner and hummed thoughtfully at the results. He expertly undid the magnetic clamps adhering the brace to Rex's leg. Rex hissed at the light touch.

Lance gave him a curious look and ran his curious over the scanner. "Interesting."

"What's interesting?" Rex asked through gritted teeth.

Lance pulled a metallic probe from his medkit and Rex forced himself not to flinch at the sight of the probe. It was horribly reminiscent of the FX series med droid back on the _Resolute_. Not all memories of the _Resolute_ were good ones. The medic lightly ran the probe up along the outside of Rex's knee from shin to thigh, over his bodysuit.

Rex hissed in protest. "Gah! Are you almost done?"

Lance handed him the probe. "Try it. Tell me what's different."

"What do you mean what's different?"

"Tek was able to extract hard drive from the the R4 droid. There's a medfile on there of every clone on this ship, including you. You were sent away because of nerve damage in your leg. You had no sensation or feeling in this leg. This level of nerve damage made you ineligible for a prosthetic and you were deemed to be unsalvageable."

"What is your _point_?" Rex challenged.

"He's still not getting it, is he?" Tank said, looking over at Rex as if he was missing something very important.

"Help him out, Lance," Mako urged.

Lance grabbed Rex's hand and guided the probe back down to his knee. " _Feel_ that, and that."

Rex hissed with pain as Lance guided the metallic probe to different areas of his badly injured leg. "Gah! Stop!" His eyes widened as the reality sank in. "Oh shab. I can feel that. That actually _hurts_."

"They were wrong, Rex. Your nerves are already regenerating on their own. It's a very good sign. A sign of hope."

_Hope._

It was something they all needed right now.

"As the nerves start coming back, you'll likely experience a lot of discomfort. You'll need to see me for regular injections. I'll also get you something for your headache." Lance rooted around in his pack for some hypos and jabbed Rex in the neck twice. He gave Rex an encouraging smile. "Overall, though, you're doing very well." He refastened Rex's knee brace and handed him his crutches. "You're free to go." He gestured to Mako. "Come on, let's finish our rounds."

Mako hesitated. "You don't mind, Captain, that I'm helping Lance, do you?" He bowed his head a bit sheepishly. "I... uh... like this medic work."

Lance turned back around. "He's got a knack for it, actually. I don't know how he ever got tracked into the bomb corps. He's a natural when it comes to picking up medical terminology and concepts."

"Fek, by all means, go on Mako. Actually, wait," the two medics paused, "consider this an official promotion to medic second class. I'll leave it up to Lance to determine once you've earned the rank of full combat medic."

Mako straightened up with pride. "Thank you, Captain!"

Lance gave Rex a nod of approval.

He watched the two leave on their rounds. There was something immensely satisfying in seeing Mako find new purpose here on Ando. He regarded the rest of the more seriously injured inside the ship with new interest, his thoughts briefly straying back a deserter he'd met once who'd found new purpose once he'd left the clone army.

Rex shook off the thoughts. He had to get to work on the defenses. There would be no future for any of these men if they couldn't make it through the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: "The Deserter" is one of my all-time favorite episodes and was a big influence in writing this story. Cut Lawquane raised this fascinating question of whether clones bred for combat could adapt to life other than just fighting and war. And, as Cut showed us, he did it the same way clones do everything, he excelled at it. Such a great episode.
> 
> * A note about Travis' armor. There are early concept sketches of his armor available on my Tumblr (longlivetheclones), however, it does not capture this final look. I spoke to GloryBlaz yesterday, the amazing who does all of my story art. We will have some new clone sketches coming up soon. For the look of Travis, you will have to envision a cross between a standard Phase 1 clone trooper and the stylized look of Bacara (who is a Commander.) Travis is a Lieutenant, on track to be a Captain, so he would not have the same armor as Bacara. It does strike me as strange the command clone of the Marines who be given a distinctively different colored armor. This would make them an obvious target on the battlefield. "Hey, shoot the white ones! Nope, the dark burgundy ones that blend in so well. Just aim for the white ones!" But, anyway, white is the command color in the Marines, so I'm going with it.


	44. Attack on Kaz'haria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Appo leads the 501st for the first time. We'll give him an "A" for effort.

"Torrent Squadron- watch your flank!" Appo shouted, taking cover behind a downed larty. He jumped up and took aim at two of the giant simian soldiers managing to take them down before they could take leap on top of an AT-TE.

Gah. No. Scratch that. One of them was back up again. Their hide was resistant to blaster fire. Fek it all. He squeezed off another shot carefully aiming for the throat. The simian dropped.

"Aim for the throat," Appo advised over the comm, "otherwise they won't stay down."

Commander Tano worked her way across the battlefield, deflecting bolts and protecting troopers. With a final leap, she dropped into place between the downed LAAT next to Appo. "How are we doing?"

"I think we've nearly got this one locked down, Commander," Appo said, optimistically. He pulled up his datapad. "Blizzard Force has taken the southern ridge. Ghost Company is making excellent progress on the north ridge. The 332nd reports the eastern front is nearly secure and Torrent has nearly locked down the west side."

"Commander Appo, this is Lieutenant Hawk. We've got trouble! Check your scanners. Incoming! There's too many we can't stop them all!"

At nearly the same time, he received a priority message: "Commander Appo, this is Lieutenant Waxer. We need back-up immediately. The commander is down. Requesting backup to our location. We have multiple troopers down. We need medical support. Do you copy Torrent-"

The comm abruptly cut off.

And, then all hell broke loose. Wave after wave of ships dropped down on them with reinforcements of simian troopers. They spilled out onto the battlefield, surrounding and overwhelming his men. Appo fought with Commander Tano back-to-back, but there were just too many of them. She fought magnificently and seemed to be everywhere at once, protecting not only him, but all of the troopers around them. Still, though, it was not enough. The men of Torrent were dropping all around them.

He saw one of the creatures take aim directly at the skull of his Jedi commander and Appo's training took over. He jumped in front of her and took the shot. His body jerked heavily as he went down. He was too injured to rise, but he could still monitor the battle and give out orders from where he was slumped on the ground. He wasn't down for the count yet. There was still fight left in him.

As long as Commander Tano was still alive and fighting, he still had hope.

# # #

Cody never remembered hearing the explosion that took out him, and what seemed like at least half of the 212th. One moment he was just standing there relaying an order from General Kenobi, and the next moment he was staring up at the sky trying to figure out what happened. He couldn't hear or feel anything at all. His bucket had been blown off, which was never a good sign. He stared up at the sky, noticing smoke and flashes of light all around him, wondering what the fek just happened.  
  
 _A det_ , most likely, he reasoned. Probably hit nearby. 

He started trying to move and was immediately hit with a burst of pain all along his right side. Still, not a bad sign, all in all. At least, he wasn't paralyzed. It meant he could still fight.  
  
 _I just need to find a different way to get up.  
  
_ Cody attempted to roll onto his side, to see if he could at least got onto his knees. Rolling over onto his side proved to be a very bad idea. Cody cried out in pain and grabbed at his side. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong, but his side hurt a great deal. However, at least his hearing was coming back, he could detect the telltale hum of descending gunships along with a great deal of shouting. Too much shouting. The chaotic kind. He needed to make order out of the chaos. He was the commander.

Cody tried to turn his head and found it nearly impossible to get his neck to cooperate. Krek. It was as if someone had jammed ground-up glass into the base of his skull. With a grunt of pain, Cody rolled his body slightly so he could see sideways. Shab! The 212th was in shambles. There were wounded everywhere, and many brothers who would never live to fight another day. Judging from the wounded, and the dead, some kind of massive mortar shell had hit them. But, why hadn't he heard it coming in? Why had there been no warning?

Cody spied two of his medics shouting back and forth, trying to sort the wounded. That looked like Keen and Cavil, his two top medics. They would know what was going on. These were his men that were wounded. Cody needed to be doing _something_ and not just lying here.  
  
Cody tried rolling to his other side and found it didn't hurt quite as badly. With a great grunt of pain, he was finally able to make it to his knees. He knelt there a moment, panting heavily. He was just starting up to his feet when someone put a steadying hand on him from behind.

"Whoa, easy there, Commander." He squinted, trying to see who was behind him and could barely make out a medic's insignia.

"It's Keen, sir. Cavil is here with me."

Keen and Cavil both dropped their medpacks beside him and started doing a rapid-fire triage of his injuries. They were the best medics in the 212th and worked extremely well together. Cavil was exceptionally skilled. Probably the most talented combat medic Cody had ever encountered. Keen had exceptional skills, but his personality needed work. Cody also preferred going to Cavil, when possible.

"Cav- Cavil," Cody staggered out, surprised by the ragged and halting sound of his voice. He tried to form the words to get a situation update. Cavil understood without him asking.

"We were on top of a minefield, Commander. It erupted underneath us. Almost our complete forward position is down. Our rear positions are heavily engaged right now with the enemy." His face tightened. " _Very_ heavily engaged."  
  
Cody's mind ran through every possible scenario of how to reposition their remaining forces. He needed to know who was left. They would need backup from the 501st. They could still win this one. He needed his datapad and to get on the comm-

Cody started to protest, but Keen shoved his face right down into Cody's and stared him down. "Stop moving, Commander."  
  
He hadn't even realized he'd been moving. Had he reached for his datapad and comm? He hadn't felt it.  
  
Keen's voice was unflinching as he leveled with Cody. "If you don't med-evac out now, you're going to bleed out."   
  
Cody wanted to object. There was too much to do.  
  
Cavil shook his head. "Sir, Waxer already organizing the men. _You_ have to go."  
  
Cody heard more shouts around and blasterfire. He wanted to fight to the end but accepted he could do no more here. He tried to nod, but his head wouldn't cooperate. "OK," he said, his voice sounded gravelly and unfamiliar to his own ears.  
  
Cavil slid a stiff brace around his neck. "Do not try to move, Commander. You've taken shrapnel to the neck. It's pushing up against your spinal column. Don't jostle it around. Do you understand?"

Cody almost nodded in reply and belatedly remembered that counted as _movement_. He settled for making eye contact with his chief medic instead. There was so much he wanted to say to him. Take care of the men. Take care of yourself. Make it to the _Negotiator_ alive. But, he could say none of these things. His brain and his body weren't cooperating anymore.  
  
Keen jabbed in the neck with several hypos without warning and they shouted for a stretcher. He started drifting off as he was being loaded up, not even feeling the pain of the jostling movement of being transferred off the ground. Cavil stuck his helmet next to him on the stretcher. It was charred and the visor was cracked but looked somewhat intact.

"Commander Cody, are you there?" Kenobi's voice called out to him from his wristlink.

Cavil lifted up his own comlink and replied. "General Kenobi, this is Cavil. The Commander has been injured. Ghost Company has multiple casualties. We're sending the commander up. Code Red Med-Evac."

Even as darkness was pulling him down, Cody was still plagued with the overwhelming feeling he had to do _something_. He needed to finish the battle. Get to the General. Rally his men. They weren't finished yet. But, his stretcher was loaded onto a LAAT and Keen and Cavil plunged back onto the battlefield and he was finished. He was taken away.

# # #

Cody just dimly remembered flashes after that. He briefly woke up in the larty and remembered the gunship being packed with wounded. He heard shouting, chaos, and confusion, and remembered the gunship shaking. They were taking heavy fire.

An injured shinie, his head and arm bandaged, was sitting next to Cody, watching him anxiously. Cody tried to remember his name, staring up at him in confusion.  
  
Gah. Fek. Why couldn't he remember? His confusion must have shown on his face.  
  
"It's Tam, sir, Cavil gave me strict instructions to tell you not to move." As if taunting him, the larty shook violently. Tam leaned over and tried to stabilize Cody, using his own good arm. 

Cody wished he could ask why, but he couldn't seem to get his lips to form the words.

"Hang on back there!" warned Davijaan, the pilot, as another explosion buffeted the LAAT, and the ship was violently rocked from side-to-side. "It's going to be a very rough ride."  
  
Another explosion buffeted the ship, slamming Tam into the side of Cody's stretcher and they both grunted with pain.  
  
"Just hang on," Tam muttered encouragingly to Cody, "we're almost there."

Cody's whole body was going numb. He couldn't move his head at all anymore.   
  
The LAAT made a nauseating set of swoops and dips, but they didn't get blown from the sky. Cody could hear explosions outside the ship and he hoped it wasn't other exploding LAATs he was hearing. They touched down to the deck of the _Negotiator_ in one piece. Oddball deserved a fekkin' medal for that flying.

He was rushed from the hangar bay toward the medical bay, along with a rush of other wounded. En route, the ship jumped abruptly into hyperspace. The fek? The medic looked startled. He knew as well as Cody did how many men were still left behind on the planet below, as well as the number of LAATs still inbound with more wounded. The numbers of unaccounted-for personnel was staggering. They had just barely begun their medical evacuations. Almost all of their troopers were still on the planet.

Why had they jumped to hyperspace? He was left out in the corridor to wait, while they made room in the medbay. The number of wounded was already overwhelming the facility.

Tam appeared next to him. Cody looked up at him. 'Wh- what-"  
  
He was pale and shaking. "Sir... some of the other wounded, they were saying…" he hesitated, not sure if he should continue, "they were saying, sir, the whole battle, Kaz'haria, it was a trap."

# # #  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Rusty, who wanted to hear from Ahsoka again.
> 
> Made a few revisions to the scene on 3/4/2021. In the original version, I had Keen riding up on the LAAT with Cody. I realized this does not work as he needs to be left behind on the planet with all of the others. Very few troopers make it off the planet that day.


	45. 'Coffee'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cody meets an unlikely ally at Ord Cestus. All hope may not be lost.

Cody awoke to the steady beeping of a life support monitor. He opened his eyes and squinted around, recognizing the bright lights and sterile theater of the Negotiator's operating theater. He closed his eyes and listened carefully, trying to gather more information. The steady thrum of the ship's engines hummed around him. They were in hyperspace. It was normally a reassuring sound. But, Tam's words came back to him in a rush. They'd left men behind on the planet. The remnants of Ghost Company. Squad Seven, Parjai and Foxtrot Groups and 2nd Airborne Company. Nothing made sense. Why had the ship left without the troopers being accounted for? He tried to voice this question but choked when he tried to form words. A shabla tube had been shoved down his throat.

"He won't survive bacta. We need other options."

Cody focused his attention on the two brothers deep in discussion a few meters away. Two more of the junior medics, Extreme and Impact.

"We can't do surgery! The only clone who has the skills to do this level of surgery is Cavil."

"Cavil _isn'_ t here!"

"Shab, Impact, I know he isn't here. Most of the farkin' 212th isn't here. But, it's only us, then, and we have to decide what to do."

Extreme shook his head vehemently. "We can't. It's too risky. One slip of the surgi-blade and the Commander ends up paralyzed."

The tension between the two medics was palatable. Cody wanted to interject. Didn't he get a say in the matter?

A small glimpse of hope appeared on Extreme's face. "Cavil said something the other day about a new initiative with Jedi healers. Could we request one of those for the commander?"

Impact nodded with approval. "It's worth a try. Call every contact you have. See what you can find out."

Extreme disappeared from view with the urgency of a clone on a mission. Cody blinked in confusion. He had no experience with Jedi healers beyond what he'd heard about them from Kenobi. His General had confessed on multiple occasions he was not particularly skilled in the area of healing. He said it was a specialized skill for Jedi.

Impact appeared in his line of vision. "Commander Cody, can you understand me? Don't move but just blink if you can. Yes, that's very good, sir."

Cody didn't want to communicate with blinks. He wanted a fekkin' status update on the 212th.

"Just relax, Commander, we're going to stabilize you the best until we can get you someplace that has the facilities to treat your injuries. We're on the way to 'Cestus to drop off you and the other wounded."

Cody frowned. No, that wasn't right. It couldn't be. What about the rest of the 212th?

"Sir, you need to hold still."

He wasn't even aware he was trying to move. But, he did want _answers_.

"Extreme! I need help here!"

His life support monitor bleeped erratically.

"Sir, you have to hold still!"

"Impact, pin him, I'm going to tie him down." The medic's apologetic face appeared in his field of vision pressing down on him, pushing him back down onto the bunk. He was dimly aware of a flurry of movement around him as he was secured to the sides of the bed and knocked out again with a hypo.

# # #

Cody was only dimly aware of the next few days. He was transferred over to Ord Cestus on a backboard, his hands bound down so he couldn't move at all. He was almost immediately transferred into a surgical suite, filled with a terrifying array of overhead robotic arms designed to cut into human flesh. Clone flesh, more specifically. He briefly thought of Rex and what he'd gone through in the aftermath of his traumatic injury a few months prior. But, there was no more time for conscious thought before he was knocked out again. He reflected later he should be grateful they bothered to knock him out before his surgery.

He awoke, still strapped down, and being poked and prodded by a large medical droid. One of the new FX series. The FX ran him through a series of tests, checking his responses and reflexes. Whatever it was testing for, he must have failed miserably. He was ushered in almost immediately for another surgery. Mercifully, he was knocked again for the next procedure. Small mercies. He awoke again, unsure how much time had passed, still strapped down and unable to move.

His frustration at his lack of movement was matched only by his frustration at not knowing what was going on. This type of information was usually provided to him by Ko, his 2IC, or the Lieutenants in charge of the six subunits of the battalion. But, he didn't have any of his comm equipment and he hadn't seen any signs of anyone from the 212th. No familiar faces, at all. Worse yet, anytime he fought his way back to consciousness, he was almost immediately knocked out again by the FX droid or a B-1.

Maybe he'd actually died on that battlefield and he was trapped in some sort of hellish afterlife. Trapper believed brothers who died were reunited in the afterlife and kept on fighting together, except there was no pain anymore. _'And, the food is much better.'_

_You were wrong, Trapper. This is nothing like that. This is a neverending hell filled with droids and drugs._

In one of his rare moments of wakefulness, he thought of Rex wondering if this was how he'd spent his final moments at ArmyMed. He wished Trapper hadn't been so wrong. Dying wouldn't be so bad if he could see his brothers again. But, not this, anything but this awful purgatory.

# # #

"Commander Cody, can you hear me?"

_Someone was speaking to him. This was new and different, and it wasn't a droid._

"Focus on my voice, very good. You've been sedated for a while. It will take some time for the effects of the drugs to work their way out of your system. I've requested you be taken of all the heavier medications. Do you understand?"

_Understand? No, not really. I don't understand. I'm dead._

"No, Commander, you're not dead. Apologies, I didn't mean to read your thoughts. You projected that one very loudly."

Cody gasped. He recognized that voice. He tried to turn his head toward the voice, but it was just like when he tried to speak. He sent the command to his neck to turn, but nothing happened. He hissed in frustration. A pair of warm hands grabbed the side of his face and he looked up into a familiar pair of green eyes. Cody tried to say the words "Commander Offee," but he was still so sedated and drugged up, he only managed to slur out "co-ffee."

She laughed. "No one has ever called me that before. Yes, it's me. You remember me."

Cody rolled his eyes in annoyance. The 212th had done a number of joint missions with the 41st and General Luminara always brought her padawan into the planning sessions. If he remembered correctly, she'd been recently knighted. She was a competent Jedi, much like Luminara, and their missions together had always gone well. More than that, though, on the last mission, he'd gotten nervous when he was near her, but he could never figure out why. Yes, he definitely knew Jedi Barriss Offee. The big question was – what was she doing here at Ord Cestus?

"Wh- wh- u?" Cody finally managed to force out, and even that was more than he'd managed to say to anyone else since he'd been injured.

Barriss frowned. Cody felt that slight pressure against his mind that the Jedi exerted when they were reading thoughts. He relaxed and allowed Barriss access to his thoughts. It was not something he would normally allow, but well, it was not like he had any other options. He was still trying to adjust to the idea he wasn't _dead_.

Just what the shab was going on anyway? Why did he have to be restrained all the time? If he couldn't move anyway, why did he have to be tied down? And, where was the rest of the 212th? Where was General Kenobi? Why hadn't he contacted him?

Barriss put up her hands to hold back the onslaught. "You have many questions. I will answer them. But, you must be patient. I will be here for a while, so I will answer all of your questions the best I can."

Cody was elated he would finally get some answers and also tried to unwrap the last bit of news.

"As you may be aware, I was recently promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight. This means I can take on assignments, independent of my Master. I'm here because I was sent here by the Council. We'll get back to that in a moment. You are here because you were wounded at the Battle of Kaz'haria," her voice dropped low at the mention of the planet, in the way people did when they spoke of great tragedy. Barriss sighed deeply, then continued, "We sustained very, very grave losses that day. You were one of the few who came back alive and that is only because you were evacked so quickly."

Cody immediately thought of Keen and Cavil. What had become of them? What had become of all of the rest of his troops under his command? They had deployed everything they had in what they thought would be a decisive victory against a new Separatist ally.

"T- t-?" Cody needed to confirm with Barriss what he'd heard aboard the ship that day but couldn't get the word out. He looked at Barriss pleadingly. She brushed up lightly against his mind again. It was feather-light and unobtrusive.

_Trap?_

Barriss looked at Cody and nodded solemnly. "Yes, it was all a trap from the beginning."

"K-K- K-" he hissed again in frustration and then sent the thought to Barris instead. _Kenobi?_

Barriss shook her head sadly.

A spike of alarm shot through Cody.

"No, no! You misunderstand," Barriss said, gripping Cody's arm. Cody looked down at his arm even more alarmed. He couldn't feel his arm at all. Barriss somehow instantly understood. She put her hands on his face, and lightly brushed her hands against his face. The touch, although very light was soothing, "the General is not dead," Barriss' green eyes looked into Cody's. "He and the others, they were all captured. And, I'll explain why you can't feel in a moment, alright?"

Cody stared at her, his eyes wide, imploring her to go on. He was not sure if he'd been at the medical center for days or weeks, but this was the most information anyone had given him.

"When I said it was a trap, we think the whole thing — it was all a setup all along in order to capture clones and Jedi. We don't know for what reason. It's as if they've vanished without a trace. Master Luminara is assigned to a commando team, one of several teams sent to locate the missing battalions. I spoke to her this morning but..." she shook her head sadly, "... they have no leads so far."

_That's impossible. An entire battalion cannot disappear._

"Two battalions," Barris responded, and Cody realized then he'd projected the thought to the Jedi. He was doing it without thinking. Gah. Krekkin' drugs. Every thought in his brain was completely transparent.

He stared at her intently, demanding more information.

"The 501st," she continued, "they suffered the same fate. Master Skywalker, Ahsoka, and nearly their entire command was also captured." She sighed, and corrected herself, "except for those killed. The 501st and 212th did not go quietly. They went down fighting until the very end."

Cody was torn between fierce pride in his men and overwhelming grief. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to absorb the loss and process all of this new information. There was something he still needed to know. Desperately. He was tired of having his thoughts read. He struggled to form the words.

"Wh- Wh-" Gah. He still didn't understand why they'd been left behind. He couldn't get the words out. And, even worse, the aftereffects of too many drugs in his system was catching up with him and pulling him down into unconsciousness again.

"Sleep now, Cody, we'll talk more when you wake again."

No, no, no, he had more questions. He didn't want to sleep. But, his body had other ideas and he dropped off into unconsciousness.

# # #

When Cody next awoke, he immediately looked for the Jedi healer. He was alone. Had he just imagined her? He looked around, trying to gauge his surroundings. Wait. This was different. He'd been moved to what looked like a private room and there was not a medical droid anywhere in sight.

"Cody?"

Cody heard a sleepy voice from across the room. The Jedi healer was curled up in a chair on the other side of the room, her robe wrapped around her. She looked exhausted; as if it were the first sleep she'd had in a long while. He knew that look of absolute exhaustion. Was he the cause of her fatigue? Barriss pushed herself up, her black hair spilling out of the severe hood she always wore. She worked her way back over to his bedside, tucking her hair back in until none was visible. Stifling a yawn, she checked his IV line, then the readings on several of his monitors. Then, she felt his forehead, then checked the bindings on his hands and ankles, before slipping into the chair next to the bed. All her movements were practiced and comfortable as if she had done this many times before.

He had so many more questions for her. He attempted to speak again. "Comma-" his tongue garbled the words. He huffed with frustration and tried again. "Command-" he stopped, worried he'd mess up again in a slurred mess of speech.

She put a hand to the side of his face. "I would be honored, Comm-, Cody, if you would call me, Barriss. We hold the same rank, you know. It would be simpler."

"Barriss," Cody managing, liking the way her name rolled off his tongue and finding it much easier than attempting her full title. He still had so many questions. He was curious why she was here. But, before he even asked about that, he needed to know about the status of his men. "Wh- what happened?" he demanded.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Let me back up a bit. I want to tell you why you are here, why I am here and explain more about what happened with the battle, alright? But, you just need to be patient and let me speak, okay?"

Cody wanted to enthusiastically nod, and then remembered the neck brace and all the reasons he couldn't move. He grunted in frustration, mainly at himself and his injuries, but said: "Alright."

Barriss placed a gentle hand on his neck brace. "You were fortunate, Cody, in that your medics knew something about Jedi healers. In addition to mending bone, and torn tissue within the body, Jedi healers can also dissolve things in the body that shouldn't be there. It's much harder than other types of healing, but bit-by-bit we can dissolve obstructions, tumors, and even foreign objects, and then get the body to clear the pieces away through its normal flushing systems. It is what saved your life, in this case. I don't know how much was explained to you about your injury but you have shrapnel in your neck from a frag-mine explosion. It could not be removed surgically."

Cody's eyes widened as he immediately understood. Commander Offee- no, Barriss- she was dissolving the shrapnel pieces like a tumor.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing."

Krek. Was he projecting his thoughts again? His level of frustration at himself increased tenfold.

"It's alright, Cody," Barriss reassured him. "I can help you a bit with that and it's normal for those who are injured to be much more open with their thoughts. I experience it often. It is why not many Jedi are cut out to be healers. It is very... mentally taxing. The work of healing you is especially difficult, but for other reasons. Dissolving shrapnel near the spine is especially difficult. It requires a healer with advanced training. It can be a lengthy process, especially with a case as complex as yours. It's why I was assigned to you, and you alone."

" _Why_?" He managed the one word, but he was thinking so much more. He was only a clone. Rex had been sent to Kamino to be euthanized when he was too injured to fight. So, why was he getting this special treatment?

Barriss nodded, understanding the intention of his question.

"The practice of sending clones back to Kamino for euthanization was never approved by the Jedi. This was a practice of extreme quality control demanded by the Kaminoans. They are still fighting us over the legality of the control over the clones, saying they have the right to quality control. But, the Council is pushing back. We were not aware of it until the disappearance of Captain Rex and the shipful of clones. Skywalker and his outrage over the disappearance of his Captain brought the issue front and center. The Council is trying to make amends now and do better by clones who are seriously injured. You are part of a new pilot program."

Knowing Rex's death had not been in vain meant something, at least, but there was still so much more he needed to know. "How... long?"

"You were injured two and half weeks ago. I arrived ten days ago to start your treatments. There are other doctors who feel they have jurisdiction over your case," the grimace on her features said volumes about what she thought about this arrangement, "and they insisted we keep you sedated until my 'experimental treatments' showed some positive signs of progress."

Two weeks! His men had been missing for two weeks?! Had there been no word from Kenobi or the others in all of that time?

Knowing his ability to speak was limited, he gritted out one word: "Kenobi?"

She shook her head. "There has been no sign of Master Kenobi or any of the others. But, as I mentioned earlier, we have teams of Jedi Masters, each assigned to a Republic Commando Team, searching for them. We're doing everything we can to find them. Master Skywalker is also missing," Barriss' voice dropped, and Cody could hear her voice tremble for a moment, "Ahsoka is with them."

Cody stared at Barriss, thinking of Skywalker's padawan. He'd promised Rex he'd watch out for Ahsoka. A fine job he'd done on that front. He'd lost not only Kenobi but Ahsoka as well.

It was all his fault. The 212th was supposed to be the backup for the 501st. If their units had gotten into place in time, and if they hadn't hit the minefield, then-

"There's no way you could have prevented what happened Cody, it was a trap. A minefield exploded underneath you! No matter what move you made, the result would have been the same!"

"No, no, no," he groaned. _It was my duty and I failed them. I failed all of them._

Barriss placed both hands on the side of Cody's head and closed her eyes. Cody felt a warm, tickling sensation in his brain and suddenly he saw an overlay of images. It was the briefing that Barriss had received at the Jedi Temple. He saw a replay of the battle, as it would have been recorded from the bridge monitoring stations of the different star destroyers that had participated in the battle. He saw the blips that represented the positioning of the 501st, and the overwhelming forces closing in around them. He then saw the 212th coming up behind them, moving to assist. Too late, he saw the monitoring stations detect the minefield as it suddenly flared into life.

Barriss was right. The 212th had hit only a portion of the minefield. The minefield was huge. Had the 212th Attack Battalion rolled directly into it, they would have been shredded and incinerated instantly.

In the midst of the battle, Cody had received orders from General Kenobi to reposition the troops and change the direction at which they were crossing the terrain. General Kenobi had given no explanation for the last-minute course change. Cody had assumed it was another of his Jedi hunches and obeyed without question. At the time, the course change had meant crossing more difficult terrain that would be harder on the equipment and harder on the men. They had originally picked the original crossing because it funneled them over naturally much easier terrain to cross.

_Thank you, General._ None of the 212th would have been alive if it hadn't been for the last-minute course change. As bad as it had been, it could have been so much worse if they'd hit the minefield full-on. The loss of the lead wave of the 212th threw off the entire battle group.

The Star Destroyers themselves came under attack from large warships of an unknown origin. Some of the gunships made it through, ferrying it the wounded, but so many were shot down. The ARC-170s were everywhere at once trying to protect the medical transports fleeing the planet.

Huge numbers of enemy forces swarmed in from everywhere, completely encircling both legions. The screens went crazy with requests for medical evac, requests for backup, requests for aerial bombardment. Then, all the images abruptly stopped.

Cody opened his eyes and stared at Barriss in confusion.

"The star destroyers were all ordered to jump to hyperspace." Barriss explained quietly. "There is some confusion as to who gave the order and why, but our forces were ordered to retreat after it was realized we'd all been lured into a trap. Admiral Yularen has gone on record to protest the orders. Admiral Blank is remaining neutral on the topic. But, they all followed the order and jumped away. A portion of the fleet made it out and those are the only known troopers to make it off-planet. The rest are all listed as missing in action or deceased."

"My men," Cody demanded again, "wh..." He couldn't fathom that they'd all been abandoned and left to be picked off by the enemy. Not after they'd bravely picked themselves up even after the minefield had gone off and still backed up their brothers in the 501st. These were some of the bravest soldiers in the GAR. They deserved better.

Barriss deep green eyes were looking right into his, full of understanding. "I'm sorry, Cody. But, there is a chance they are still alive. We don't know why they were taken, but every effort is being made to find them. You know, Cody, maybe you don't want to hear this. But, we Jedi prefer to think when tragedies happen it is the will of the Force."

No. It's usually poor intel. That's how these farkin' things happen. He didn't want to hear about the fekkin' Force, but Barris was right, in a way. He was still alive and there was a chance some of his men were still alive. Now, he just needed to heal, and quickly, so he could go find them.

# # #


	46. Pirates Return

Ahsoka awoke slowly, nauseous and aching everywhere and bound hand and foot. But, even worse, her whole body felt so wrong and off-balance somehow. She groaned in misery.

"Snips?"

She slowly opened her eyes, looking for her Master. The lighting was terrible. She reached out for her Master with the Force and gasped with horror. "The Force, Master, it's gone!"

"Take deep breaths, Ahsoka. Breathe through it. You'll adjust in a moment."

"Adjust?" she said in horror. "How can the Force be gone?!"

From somewhere off to her right, she heard the calm, but weary, voice of Master Kenobi. "Technically, the Force is not _gone_. They are using Force-suppression collars on us. There is a difference, Anakin."

"Technicalities, Master. It doesn't matter if we can't get these collars off."

Ahsoka struggled up to a sitting position. The heavy collar dragging against her neck. "What do they want with us?"

"I don't know, Snips."

"Could these be the Separtists' new ally? The ones we ran into on Darkknell? The ones who fought alongside the droids?"

"Ahsoka," her Master sighed wearily, "too many questions. I just don't know, alright?" He sounded slightly exasperated with her, which wasn't all that unusual, but there was something else in his voice, too. She gasped, as memories of their final moments of the battle came flooding back. Her Master had been shot, twice, and then savagely beaten as he'd come to her aid in the last desperate moments of the attack. None of them had gone down without a fight. "Master, you're hurt!"

"A little quieter, if you please, padawan. We all suffered injuries, yourself included," Master Kenobi called wearily, from off to her right. Ahsoka succeeded in turning her head, feeling the weight of the heavy collar on her neck. She could see now that Master Kenobi was in a separate cell. He was lying curled on his side on the stone floor looking toward her. She could just barely make out his bright blue eyes in the dark. He was barely moving from his position on the floor. "Could you please check on the status of Commander Appo? He hasn't moved since he's been brought in. Neither have you, actually. We've been concerned about the both of you." Master Kenobi stirred slightly to point toward the corner of Ahsoka's cell, and then dropped a weary arm. Ahsoka peered more closely at Master Kenobi. He read her thoughts, even without the Force. "I'm fine, padawan, go check on the commander."

He wasn't fine, that much was obvious. But, she couldn't do anything for him since they were in separate cells. She turned and looked where he had pointed. She wasn't alone in her cell.

Tossed into one corner was the crumpled, unmoving form of Commando Appo. His helmet, weapons belt, gauntlets had been removed. His blue and white 501st armor was badly scorched from numerous blast marks.

"Oh!" Ahsoka said, as she shuffled over to him the best she could. The rough, cold stone floor scraped her hands and feet, but she didn't care. The Commander looked like he had been dumped onto the rough prison floor, like a sack of topatoes. Even in the dim lighting, she could see he had numerous injuries, including a deep blast wound to his shoulder. He was pale, even for a clone and she couldn't tell if he was breathing. Gah. Everything was so much harder without the Force. How did Kix and Coric ever do their jobs without being Force-sensitive? This seemed near impossible.

"Commander Appo?" There was no response. She tried it again a bit louder. "Commander Appo, can you hear me?" She winced at the sound of her own voice. It sounded unnaturally loud in the stillness of the dank prison. She held her breath, fearing her loud outburst might have summoned the guards. If they were the same ones who they'd battled on the planet, it would not be good to bring down their wrath. Not now when they were all too injured to fight. She waited but no guards came to their cells. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Alright, then, she'd just have to try something else. She scooted herself around so her bound hands were facing the prone commander. She prodded and poked him with her hands. He didn't stir. Nothing was working. Was he dead? That wasn't good. "I think he's dead, Master," she said, regretfully.

"Did you check if he was breathing?" Master Kenobi asked from his position on the floor on the next cell over.

"Of course she did," Anakin defended. "My padawan is very thorough."

"Eh," Ahsoka said, "I'm... uh... just getting to that now. Give me a moment." She leaned her head down toward Appo's pale face, listening for any signs of respiration. The movement caused her Force-suppression collar to jam directly into Appo's blaster wound.

The injured clone gasped in shock, his eyes going wild before he suddenly shot up and then grabbed Ahsoka in a strangle-hold.

Obi-Wan reacted first. "Commander Appo, this is General Kenobi, _stand down_."

Appo's head cocked to the side in confusion, his eyes wild with fever. The Force-suppression collar was the only thing that prevented Ahsoka's neck from being broken from the clone's feverishly strong grip.

"Release Commander Tano now!" Skywalker stared at Appo, his voice cold and chilling, using a tone she had rarely heard from him before. His voice seemed to have dropped in pitch as well, assuming a tone that promised deadly consequences if disobeyed.

The effect on Appo was immediate. "General Skywalker?" He blinked hard several times, struggling to focus his eyes. He looked down at his hands. His eyes suddenly widened in horror as recognition dawned. He immediately dropped his hands as if he'd been burned and sank to his knees in front of her. Ahsoka doubled over, trying to catch her breath.

Appo was immediately by her side, helping her up with his one functional arm."Commander Tano, I am so sorry. Forgive me. I don't know what happened. I didn't mean any harm to you." He cast a quick worried glance over at this General. "General Skywalker, I'm sorry!"

Ahsoka just nodded, unable to speak quite yet. When she finally caught her breath, she coughed and then looked over to her Master, weakly joking. "Hey, I did it, Master. Commander Appo is awake."

Anakin gave her a wry look and shook his head. He was still casting looks toward Appo that could cast the man into carbonite.

"Will you look at that Master, I found a use for these Force collars after all," she joked.

Anakin shook his head.

She turned her attention back to Appo. "And, why didn't they tie you up? When they have all of us Jedi all trussed up?"

Appo shrugged and then grimaced from the movement against his burnt shoulder. "Not nearly as threatening as you Jedi, I suppose."

Ahsoka cleared her throat, finally get her air fully back and breathing normally again. "If it's any consolation, Commando Appo, _I_ find you very threatening, at times."

Appo rolled his eyes. "I hope not." He studied her Force-collar thoughtfully. "Maybe I can make some amends, Commander. Perhaps I can work your free of your bindings."

# # #

Rex stood outside the ship, absent-mindedly rubbing at his leg while he oversaw the preparation of the base camp defenses. Seeing the medic had worked out well. The tingling sensations were already improving.

He realized now his leg had been sending him intermittent pain signals for almost a day now and he'd been so preoccupied with the crash, he'd ignored it. But, it was a promising sign. Maybe there was some hope for him.

He looked around at the snowy moon.

Timing could have been better. This is all could have happened _before_ he was decommissioned and sent away. But, maybe this all happened for a reason. The Jedi believed in mystical things of that nature. Everything happens for a reason. Rex would still rather be back with the 501st than be on a mystical journey of discovery. But, he was here now and these brothers needed him.

Travis was clustered with his group of volunteers a few feet away giving them a quick final set of instructions before they set off. He'd selected a diverse team of troopers. Two snowies, two snipers, a quad gunner, and a combat engineer. He finished his brief talk and came back over to Rex.

"We're headed out. I'll keep in close radio contact."

Rex nodded. "Good luck out there. Don't take any unnecessary risks."

Travis huffed lightly with amusement. "No. Of course not." His response did not evoke confidence in Rex. He signaled to his small handpicked squad and headed off into the unknown wilds of the snowy moon. Travis almost seemed to have a bounce in his step as he disappeared off into the snow. Rex couldn't blame him. They were all supposed to be dead by now and instead they'd been given this miraculous second chance. They had no idea what awaited them on the snowy moon. He could name a dozen things that could kill either Travis' squad or the clones at the ship before sundown.

But, Rex chose instead to focus on the ways they all were going to survive this day and the next.

# # #

Rex poked his head into the cockpit of the ship, checking in with Chance who was currently monitoring the scopes. "Anything?"

"Not seeing any ship's traffic at all anywhere on this moon. But, Tek has an idea for reconfiguring the systems to make them sensitive enough to detect ground traffic, as well. We could monitor both simultaneously. It wouldn't take much to extend their capabilities."

"Do it," Rex said, disappearing back out of the cockpit. He stopped by the biobeds and saw Odds deep in conversation with one of the injured men. Odds waved him over.

"Captain, have you met Razor?"

The injured clone in the biobed studied Rex. "We spoke Captain briefly before the ship went down."

Rex thought back, trying to place the conversation. "You're the third pilot."

The clone twisted his lips. "I _was_ a pilot, Captain." He gave a sardonic look at the biobed. "I think my flying days are over."

"Razor has a great understanding of ships," Odds said enthusiastically. "He was just sharing his ideas for adapting the ship to work better defensively."

"I'm all ears, trooper," Rex said.

"Alright, so this ship is a T-6 light class transport. Doesn't have anything when it comes to defensive capability. I mean, why would it, right? They were just sending us back to Kamino. There was no need for us to be defended. But, the ship does have an interesting feature which could work to our advantage. Look up."

Rex did as he was directed and noticed for the first time there were hatches in the ceiling of the transport.

"Those are intended for loading and unloading small cargo, making this transport more useful. The seats can be easily pulled out, as we've discovered, and the interior can be reconfigured in multiple ways. Now, if we send troopers up onto the roof, they could take defensive positions up there. We could use our heavy weapons' troopers as anti-aircraft gunners. They could brace themselves back against the hatches. On these old transports, the hatches are very sturdy. It would give them the stability they need to hang on up there."

Rex quickly accessed his HUD checking the roster of remaining gunners. Travis had taken two of the snipers and one of the heavy gunners with him, but they still have four heavy gunners left. If any of them yielded a Z-6 with any of the same zeal as Hardcase, they could easily do some serious damage in case of attack. This plan could work very well.

He nodded to Odds and Razor. "You've figured out a way to compensate for our defensive weaknesses. Excellent work." Both troopers beamed back at him.

Rex set off to find the heavy gunners and set them on their new assignment.

# # #

Travis slowed his pace so he could walk next to the snowtroopers in the group.

"So, you two must be totally in your element out here," he said, starting a conversation with the two snowies.

"I will say it was a lucky break we landed on snow planet. My name's Hugh, by the way."

Travis regarded him curiously and noticed the trooper was missing a portion of hand and forearm.

"Snowspeeder crash," Hugh said, "same one that made Tomm here partially blind."

The second snowspeeder raised a hand in greeting. "Just don't approach me from this side," Tomm said holding up his right hand. "Can't see a friggin' hand. I think I can still shoot. I haven't tried. This is the first time I've been out on any kind of mission since being injured."

Travis snorted with amusement. "Oh, that evokes confidence."

"Hey, the deaf guy should not be casting shade onto the blind guy," Tomm defended.

"Alright, but you better still be able to shoot," Travis grumbled. He looked over at the combat engineer. "Who are you?"

"I'm Till, sir, 38th Armored-"

"Lieutenant," Tomm interrupted, "we've got company. Coming up on us fast. Several ground vehicles."

Travis zoomed in on the image with his HUD. Krek. Take cover!" There was almost no available cover except for a few sizable snowdrifts, but it was all they had. It would provide them with a bit of a visual shield, but blaster fire would penetrate right through it. Was it too much to ask that this planet have more rocks and trees for natural cover during a shootout?

All six of the troopers dropped to their bellies behind the mounds of snow and took aim at the oncoming vehicles. They were light airspeeders, modified for use in the snow.

"Lieutenant, do you think they spotted us?" Tomm asked.

"Cut the chatter, snowie," Travis barked into his comm. It was still irritating to him, even after weeks of adapting to being deaf, to not be able to hear himself give orders into his HUD. He knew his helmet was transcribing the orders back out to the other clones, but it was still unnerving to not be able to hear himself. It was doubly unnerving during a combat situation.

_Were the Kaminoans right to decommission us? Am I really unfit to serve?_

_No. He refused to accept it. The loss of his hearing was a great challenge, but he'd overcome many great challenges as a soldier. He refused to accept he had no worth anymore. The Kaminoans were wrong. He would prove it._

"Hold your positions," he said to his squad, relying on his memory of what speaking in a calm tone sounded like. He counted almost a dozen speeders. This was not good.

The speeders stopped right in front of the snowdrifts. A tall, dark-haired woman stepped out of the lead vehicle, a long rifle slung over one shoulder.

"Will you get a look at her?" Hugh muttered, but his comments still transcribed themselves over Travis' HUD.

He hissed in annoyance. "Cut the chatter, snowies!"

She was dressed in clothing well-suited to the rugged climate and carried the bearing of a leader. She signaled to the speeders around her and women emerged from all of them, clad in similar heavy winter clothing, rifles slung over their backs. To their credit, the snowies remained silent.

"Soldiers who came from the crashed ship. We do not wish you harm. We came to speak with you," the woman said, staring directly at the snowbank.

"What do you want with us?" Travis demanded, making no move to rise from the snowbank.

"We wish to speak to you about one of your men."

Travis gave a quick hand signal to his squad to cover him. He stood up. "Alright, you have my attention. Trooper Hok. Where is he?"

The woman shook her head. "No harm will come to him. He has already received medical attention and is being transported back to our town."

"He belongs here with us," Travis said. "He is one of us. A clone." He gestured to his brothers to stand up. The rest of his squad rose up, weapons held comfortably at the ready, but not sighting on the women or their vehicles.

She studied them with great interest. "There _are_ more of you. How many more?"

"What is your interest in us? Return our man and we will leave you alone," Travis said.

"This is _our_ land," she said, imperiously. "All of these lands. They belong to us. So, unless you plan on flying away, you are on land which belongs to the rightful heirs of the Andoan Moon."

Diplomacy was not a strong suit for Travis. He'd been a farkin' Marine. They were probably the last diplomatic clones around. Marines could tear apart clones with their bare heads. Kind of like the Wookies of the clone world. Rex could have handled this better.

"Sir, try introducing yourself," Tomm offered through a private comm channel, the messaging quickly scrolling across his HUD.

Fek. It was worth a try. These people did have Hok, after all. He didn't sense they were overtly hostile, even if they were all armed.

"My name is Lieutenant Travis. Former Galactic Marine. Perhaps we could begin again. I'm not sure we got off to the right start between our people."

The woman gave him a long considering look before giving a slight bow of her chin and saying: "I am Karyn, Elder Chieftan of this southern side of the Andoan Moon. We came out here because we were curious to see who had crash-landed on our planet. We have almost no contact with the outside world, unless you count," she grimaced, "periodic pirate raids." She looked at the clones and their armor. "We also came to see if you are a threat to us." She stared Travis down. " _Are_ you a threat to us?"

Her words hung in the air.

Travis never had a chance to answer respond. An urgent message scrolled across his HUD from Rex.

[CT-7567 'Rex'] _Travis, where you are, take cover! We've got incoming!_

['Travis'] _Can you identify?_

['Rex'] _Signature looks like the same ship which attacked us before. Take cover. Rex out._

Travis' mind instantly ran through calculations. How far they had traveled from camp. How long it would take to get back there. They'd never make it time. Fek. Fek. Fek.

The woman was still speaking to him. "I ask you again, Lieutenant Travis, are you a threat to us?"

He put up a hand to silence her. "I don't have time for this right now. The rest of our men are about to come under attack. We'll have to continue this another time." He gave a brisk hand signal to his men. "Troopers! Prepare to move out."

The woman was immediately by his side. Gah. She was infuriating. "Where are these men of yours? I don't see them. I don't think you'll make it in time. I believe you might need a ride."

Travis closed his eyes in frustration. Fek it all. She was right.

He turned to her. "Yes." He switched over to the private comm channel. "Troopers, into the speeders. Now! Move it troopers!"

# # #

Rex was quickly positioning troopers everywhere in a defensive attack formation.

"Odds, time?"

"Three minutes and closing, Captain."

He stepped back so he could see up onto the roof. The four heavy gunners were in place, braced up against the hatches for stability. "Shadow," Rex called to the lead gunner, "is your squad of gunners, ready?"

"All set up here, Captain. Just give us something to shoot at and we'll take it down." The heavy gunner had an easy confident manner.

"Captain, I'm detecting more incoming," Chance said.

"More ships?" Rex asked.

"No, ground vehicles. Looks like at least a dozen of them. Coming in fast and headed directly for our position."

Shab. A multi-front attack.

"Look sharp, troopers. We have ground vehicles headed out way," Rex warned the Legion on an open Legion.

"Don't worry, Captain," responded Dart, the ARC, "I'll take them out. I still have some anger issues."

"Enough. Keep the line clear," Rex said.

Rex braced his back against the ship, wishing he could drop and take a knee like the other troopers and draw a better line on the incoming vehicles. If they were lucky, they could take out all the ground vehicles before they had to worry about fighting the pirate ship above.

['Travis'] Rex, we are coming in by ground vehicle. We made contact with the locals. Hold your fire. Repeat. Hold your fire.

The ground vehicles came within range of their weapons. Rex saw his troopers prepare to take their shots. "Hold!" he barked into the open-comm channel. "Do not fire! Friendlies coming in. Repeat. Do not fire!"

The vehicles pulled up by their ship seconds later. Two dozen women heavily armed and Travis' squad spilled out of the speeders.

"Travis!" Rex barked, signaling the clone over to his position. "What the fek are you doing back here?"

"I came to defend your shebs," Travis grumbled. He signaled to the woman. "This is Karyn, Elder Chieftan here."

"Yes, well, Elder Chieftan, you and your people need to take shelter in the ship as we are about to be attacked. It is the safest place for you," Rex pointed inside the crashed ship, defended by the heavy gunners on top.

Karyn looked immediately insulted. "My women are warriors. We know how to shoot and we do not run from a fight. This is our land and we will defend it."

"Suit yourself," Rex grumbled, "just don't get in the way."

Travis immediately started positioning the women warriors around the ship so they could be most effective and also take advantage of the most cover. He nodded to Rex.

Rex turned his attention back to Karyn, "OK, our objective is to take the ship down before they can strafe this field and take us out. If and when we do take the ship down, and there are any survivors, we rush the ship. We will _**not**_ be taking prisoners. They will be shooting to kill, so our objective is to destroy them. Is that clear?"

Karyn cocked her head slightly to the side, thinking this over, and then nodded. "Alright. I agree."

Rex nodded with approval. "Alright, then. We fight."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a ship's engines straining as the pirates came at them fast and hard.

Shadow and his small squad of heavy gunners immediately started firing, their shots relentless and ceaseless as they pursued their target. The troopers on the ground followed up and joined in firing on the ship.

"Yes!" Travis shouted as a large smoking hole appeared in the port side engines of the pirate ship.

"The ship is coming around for another pass!" Odds warned.

Rex saw the ship coming in, streaking toward them, huge wafts of smoke billowing from its' aft section, guns blazing.

With crisp precision, the clone troopers began firing as soon as the ship came into range. The troopers hammered the ship with shot after shot, precision-firing. Rex noticed an arc of fire join in with his troopers' shots. He raised an eyebrow. Karyn hadn't exaggerated. Her women could shoot.

The pirates' shots' went wide, kicking up a great deal of rock and snow but not striking any targets. The ship zoomed by overhead, headed out to sea, then circled around to come back around for another pass.

The pirate ship came barreling back into range, strafing the ground with its' forward lasers. This time some of the marks found their targets. Clones went down with cries of pain as the pirate ship's front-mounted lasers' penetrated right through their armor. But, troopers avenged their fallen brothers. The clones' shots found their marks as well. Shot after well-aimed shot hit the ship. Rex also noticed a hail of well-placed fire coming from Karyn and her women. The aft engines flared up and the ship listed suddenly before sinking down over the next ridge in a muffled whump of enormously displaced snow.

_That did not look like an explosion._

"Finish it, Travis!" Rex ordered into his comm.

Travis motioned his team on: "Come on! Move it! Move it!" Everyone who'd been earlier identified as being fit to run took off after Travis. It was a sizable complement of troopers.   
  
_Disabled, my shebs!_

Rex slung his rifle over his shoulder and quickly moved to assist the wounded, lining them up against the shelter of the ship. Lance and Milo were already outside, beginning triage. There were moans of pain, and many wounded. Their plastoid armor had been no match for direct fire from those lasers. Rex was just applying a bacta bandage to the shoulder of a wounded clone when Karyn dropped down next to him in the snow. She had run back to her speeder to retrieve a large case. "I can help," she said, breathless from running. She popped open the case, revealing an impressively stocked medical kit. Rex looked up at her in surprise. She snapped on a pair of surgical gloves, already working on the injured trooper. "I have medical training."  
  
"You're a medic," he said to her.  
  
"We all must assume many roles these days in our small town. My training is as a doctor. Warrior and elder is only out of necessity," Karyn answered, her fingers tracing over the wound. "How do I remove this armor?"

Rex showed her how the plates released from the body suit underneath. "Obliged for the assist."

Karyn worked with Rex, Milo and Lance to coordinate the treatment of the wounded. Rex's danger sense flared warning him something was very wrong. He snapped his head around trying to find the source of the danger. In the treeline, two pirates had escaped the wreckage. They were taking aim at Rex and the doctor.

"Down!" Rex yelled.

The doctor looked up for a moment in confusion. Rex dove down on top of her as a blaster shot sailed over their heads. A second shot burned into his pauldron.

"Stay down!" he said to Karyn, as he rolled back up into firing position, blasters in both hands. He balanced on his one good leg and fired both blasters at once. His eyes and hands found the targets automatically. The two pirates went down with two identical cries of pain. Rex used the scope on his visor to check for movement to see if there were any more unfriendlies lurking in the treeline. All was clear.

"OK," he said, extending his hand to Karyn, pulling her up out of the snow, balanced on his one leg, "are you alright?"

Rex peered around, looking to see where his crutches ended up in the melee. He found one, half-buried in the snow. He reached down and grabbed it. It would have to do. He'd find the other one, in a bit. He balanced using the one crutch.

She looked a bit stunned, her eyes blinked several times, taking it all in, "Fine, thank you," she looked at Rex, "I don't even know your name."

"I'm Rex, Captain Rex. I'm in charge of these men."

She pointed to his pauldron where the blast wound was still smoking. "I should take a look at that wound," she said.

Rex shook his head. "It can wait. I've had worse. Many times." He looked down at the trooper she was treating. "Is that the last of the wounded?"  
  
"Yes," she responded, eyeing his injury again, "but-"

Their conversation was interrupted by Travis and his attack force of able-bodied troopers cresting the hill. They were jogging through the snow, obviously in high spirits. And, they were _singing_. They weren't a lot of songs that all clones knew. But, all troopers were taught 'Vode An'/'Brothers All' as part of their flash training. Rex had to admit they made an impressive picture trotting back in their armor, chanting in Mando'a.   
  
The Andoan women stopped in their work to watch them, their curiosity plain to see. His troopers were usually kept separate from civilians. Civvies were generally always evacuated before the battles began. It was much simpler that way. Civvies made everything very complicated.  
  
And, these civilians obviously had little experience with clone troopers.

Rex folded his arms across his chest, watching all of this play out. 

"Shab," he shook his head. No more work was going to get accomplished today, that was a given. Travis trotted right up to Rex and saluted smartly. Since when did Travis salute him? He was more likely to mouth off and threaten to hit him and in his good moments, come up with some usable strategies. But, he did not salute.

Travis cast a quick sidelong glance at the Andoan leader Karyn, and then turned his attention back to Rex.

Oh.  
  
Krek. This is why brothers were kept separate from civvies.  
  
Clone brothers were all "intact" due to factor T. This was a technical term Echo had run across in an obscure paragraph in one of his manuals. The Kaminoans had opted not to make the clones troopers sterile as this would reduce their fighting drive. But, this did create its' own host of problems. There were millions of clone troopers spread across the galaxy with all the normal sexual urges of twenty-somethinng-year-olds. Or, twenty-something-year-olds with the mental maturity of teenagers. Rex sighed. This could get very complicated.

"Mission accomplished, Captain. Nothing left of those pirates. However, I think we might actually be able to salvage their ship if we were to combine parts from this transport we might be able to get a space-worthy vessel again."

"Excellent, Travis," Rex said. "Make it happen." And, that was why he put up with Travis. There was more about him that was right than wrong. Rex could see the potential in him masked underneath the bitterness and attitude.

Karyn was about to comment on this, a space-worthy vessel, when she heard a gasp coming from several of her women. She turned to see what was wrong. Nothing was wrong necessarily. They were all just gasping and staring at the men.

Many of the clones had taken their helmets off in order to drink water from their canteens. They were in a playful mood after the success of their recent battle. Many were hot from the recent run to the pirate ship and back. Even the cooling systems of their suit could not always keep up with heavy exertion. A couple of them were just grabbing handfuls of snow and using it to scrub their faces and wipe back their sweat-streaked hair and necks. An impromptu snowball fall broke out and the troopers laughed as they pelted each other, very accurately, with hard-packed balls of snow.

It took them several moments to realize they had an audience. The women of Ando dropped their jaws in shock, staring at the identical faces, but differing hair cuts and tattoos. All conversations had stopped. Slowly, as realization dawned, the troopers stopped what they were doing, suddenly self-conscious at having an audience. A few of the troopers smiled awkwardly at the ladies, others turned red, painfully shy. Globs of snow dripped off their heads and cheeks as they looked back at the warrior women.

Karyn stared at them astonished. "Incredible. Xyra said the soldier on her boat said he was a clone, but I've not seen clones before. Everything I read about Arkanian clones made it sound like-"  
  
"We are _not_ Arkanian clones," Travis said defensively. "Arkanian clones are prone to madness and are very low quality. We're the finest troopers this galaxy has ever seen." He straightened up proudly.

Karyn put up a hand. "I meant no offense. All of this is new to me." She was direct in her response back to Travis. "We have been out of touch here on this planet for five years now. My information is out-of-date. Be patient with my questions. I will continue to ask them unless you tell to stop. I only wish to understand."  
  
Rex listened in on the conversation between Travis and Karyn, but also kept a watchful eye on his troopers and the Andoan women. The two groups were eyeing each other, but not mingling. His troopers had jammed their helmets back on, likely to have private conversations and because of their discomfort at being the object of so much scrutiny.

Karyn addressed Rex and Travis. "May I see your faces, please? I'll admit I am a bit fascinated."

['Travis'] _Look at that Rex. We're fascinating._

['Rex'] _Behave. We may need these locals as allies.  
  
_ ['Travis'] _Fine. I'll play along. But, if she compares us to Arkanian clones again, I'm walking away.  
  
_ Travis took off his helmet and Rex followed suit.

She studied them both with open curiosity. "You have the same face. But, already you don't seem so identical to me."

Travis laughed. "Oh, Rex and I are nothing alike." He pointed at the freshly burned hole in Rex's pauldron with interest. "What happened there?"

Rex shrugged and then winced. "There were a few stragglers in the treeline."

"Your Captain saved my life," Karyn said.

Travis shrugged. "Typical of him."

Rex didn't comment. The incident meant little to him. He would have done the same for anyone. He noticed the troopers were getting up the courage to approach the women warriors. This was not good. "Travis," Rex ordered, making sure he had eye contact with Travis so he could read his lips, "go see to the men." 

"Captain," Karyn said, "you have a lot of wounded. Some of them quite seriously. I'm grateful for your assistance wiping out the pirate nuisance from our planet."

"In all fairness, we would've had to kill them either way."

"Still, I'm concerned, about some of your wounded being out in the cold, like this," she nodded toward the tents, some of which had been destroyed in the strafing run and were now just smoldering piles of cloth, "as a thank you for your help, I'd like to offer to bring your wounded back to our village. We have room in the speeders for the most critical ones."

Rex tried to picture the logistics. "How will that work?" 

"My clinic is small admittedly. But, I can treat them there and then we can house them within the village until they recover enough to leave and you can go where you wish, or until you get your ship repaired." Rex's first reaction was to object, thinking the men had their armor to keep them warm. But, this was the best hope they had for their wounded.  
  
Rex slid his helmet back on. "Travis," Rex said over a private comm channel, "Karyn has offered to take the wounded back to town."

Travis took a moment to respond. "It's... a sound plan."

Rex turned his attention back to Karyn. "Alright, yes, we accept your offer of caring for our wounded. We would be grateful."  
  
Travis walked back over to join them. Rex noticed he'd separated the men again from the Andoan visitors. He must given the troopers a stern lecture as they'd all dispersed and were working on cleaning up the camp.

"That includes you, too, then Captain Rex," Karyn said. "You have a fresh blast wound to your shoulder. And, whatever else this is you have going on." She gestured to his injured leg and crutches.

Rex opened his mouth to protest, but Travis arrived then and cut him off. "Go, Rex. I'll take care of the camp here. You watch over the men who are headed in town."

His cool tone of voice said volumes. There was no teasing in it anymore. It went without saying Travis thought Rex was getting the better end of the deal. Again.

Travis jammed his helmet back on. "I'll go help load the wounded."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Appo is a difficult character to write because we don't see too much of him in canon. He is a sergeant and then mysteriously he is a commander. Why? Who knows. In this story, he receives his eventual promotion because a replacement is needed for Rex. Was he the most qualified candidate? Maybe not. Would Jesse or Fives have been a better choice? Hell yeah. 
> 
> I see Appo's promotion as being political and being pushed by people in the background. High Command. Republic Intelligence. Maybe even the Chancellor. All of these folks who want more control over the 501st. They see Appo as much easier to control than Rex, Ahsoka or the wildcard of Skywalker. 
> 
> Is Appo a bad guy? No. I see him as another clone with all of the positive and negative qualities of any other clone. His biggest challenge is trying to fill the shoes of someone like Rex. He is given an impossible task. He is set-up to fail from the beginning. I feel for the guy and I write his character from that viewpoint.


	47. First Night in Ando Town

Travis helped load an injured trooper into one of the speeders. Rex recognized him immediately, Dart, the ARC with the attitude and the injured hip. He'd sustained additional burn injuries during the skirmish with the pirates and was moving very slowly as Travis maneuvered him into the speeder.

Travis messaged Rex over his HUD.

['Travis'] That's the last of the injured troopers. Sending you a manifest now of the troopers who will be going with you.  
 _  
[_ 'Rex _']_ Received. Perhaps you should go with the injured and not me.  
 _  
[_ 'Travis' _]_ I wasn't the one who managed to get shot. Stop stalling and get going. Or, do you want me to personally load you into a speeder?

['Rex'] _That will not be necessary._

 _['Travis'] I_ am amazed you manage to convey your haughtiness in a HUD transcription.

['Rex'] I am not haughty.

['Travis'] You're stalling.

['Rex'] The fek I am.

['Travis'] You're still here.

Rex pushed out a sigh. He was stalling. He didn't want to go. Billeting with some civilians, even if it was only for a very brief time was outside his comfort zone. He'd only ever done so on Salecumai and Cut had turned out to be another brother. He was comfortable enough around General Skywalker and Admiral Yularen because they behaved like military men. And, Ahsoka treated the clones like equals to the point everyone considered her as one of their own. So, he had no frame of reference for what he was about to face.

Maybe this would be like Cut's wife, Suu. She knew how to handle a rifle and had a certain toughness about her, but also showed compassion. Yes, if any of these Andoan women were like Suu, perhaps it would be tolerable to be around them.

['Rex'] Alright, I am going.

['Travis'] I had my doubts. Keep in close radio contact and let me know when you locate our missing man.

['Rex'] Understood. Watch over our men here.

Karyn waved to Rex to come join him in her speeder. He nodded and slid into a speeder already packed with several of the women warriors and two wounded clones. She closed the hatch and they immediately took off over the snowy landscape as the lead vehicle.

"Captain," Karyn began, "if you don't mind my asking, how did you sustain that leg injury?"

Rex grimaced beneath his bucket. It was not a topic he relished discussing with outsiders."

"Just took a bad hit to the knee." He didn't elaborate.

"Directly to the knee? The meniscus? Is your kneecap still intact? Can you bear weight, at all?"

"Yes. I don't think so. And, no."

Karyn must have sensed his reluctance to talk about it because she didn't push the topic any further.

# # #

"Alright, Captain, stop stalling. Come over here and get undressed," Karyn said.

Rex was in the simple, understated, yet cheerful, clinic attached to Karyn's house.

There was space in the clinic for twelve narrow beds, in two neat rows of six. Four of the beds were currently occupied by Rex's men with injuries that Karyn wanted to monitor. The rest of Rex's men had treated by Karyn and deemed stabled enough to recoup with families within the village itself. Most of the 'families' were woman like the Andoan warriors they'd met, or women with one or children. They were all universally enthusiastic about hosting the clone troopers.

But, it still puzzled Rex.

Clones were generally viewed with suspicion, or outright hostility, wherever they went in the galaxy. The Republic PR machine tried valiantly to portray them as brave heroes of the Republic fighting valiantly alongside the Jedi. But, the Trade Federation had more resources and a better strategy for spreading its message. Fear. Clones were an unknown. The Grand Army of the Republic had come out of nowhere and very little was known about them or the cloning process which had created them. The CIS used this lack of information to spread misinformation and lies. Their fear tactics worked extremely well and the clones were depicted as unstable killing machines.

The Andoan moon was an anomaly on so many levels since they had been cut off from the galaxy at large and not exposed to propaganda from either side of the galactic conflict. They were so curious about the new arrivals and he was greeted warmly wherever he went. Rex was a bit unnerved, so had insisted on going along to see where all his wounded men were going to be housed. He had made numerous trips back and forth from the clinic to houses within the former fishing village. Their driver, a cheerful, older woman named Rosetta, kept up a steady stream of conversation the whole time, telling him all about the village. She drove them from house to house, helping the wounded men into the houses. She was extremely strong, practically lifting the men inside in some cases, with extreme ease.

It was a nicely-laid out town, sitting right on the sea. The town had always relied upon the sea for their livelihood and the ocean-theme carried through in the decor of most of the homes. Rosetta confessed in one of their conversations that "the fish were no longer running like they did before the war" and "times had gotten very hard." She proudly pointed out multiple greenhouses and spoke of their efforts to find sustainable crops in the post-war era. If the majority of the townspeople were like Rosetta, he garnered they were a remarkably hearty group of people. They had dropped off the last clone trooper for the evening, and he had a few more questions for Rosetta.

Rex was struck by the openness and good nature of everyone he met. The host women were all exceedingly polite to him and the troopers that were dropped off at their homes. He had to admit it appeared that his men would be well-taken care of for the night. But, he did have a burning question.

"Rosetta," Rex suddenly asked bluntly, "why is there such a disproportionate number of women in your village?"

"Ah," Rosetta nodded. She stopped by the speeder. They were close to the fishing docks, by a number of trawlers. Even in the dark, Rex could see some were in working condition, and others were simply bombed out wrecks. "Karyn explained to you about the Great War five years ago?"

"A passing reference. And, you keep bringing it up, as well. We didn't have too much time to talk before the pirates dropped in."

Rosetta nodded and she looked thoughtful. "Captain, there are no men in Ando, other than the few old men. I think you may saw one of them, Shan, at one of the houses where we stopped. He is very old. Too old to have gone to war. And, there are some children who are too young to have remembered what happened to us."

Rosetta stared out at the dark sea for a long moment and her voice grew quiet and pained, "We lost our menfolk five years ago in a terrible civil war that almost destroyed this planet," she looked away as a tear streamed down her face. She swiped at it, "I lost my husband, then my eldest. He insisted on following his father," her voice took on a haunted whisper, "I tried to prevent my other two boys from getting dragged into it, but it was like a disease. It was this endless cycle of revenge that kept feeding on itself." She pointed to the wrecked trawlers. "First, we lost our space-faring vessels. Then, the best ships in our fishing fleet. One by one, most of the towns and cities were bombed. The killing just did not stop. We lost _everything_."

More tears streamed down, and Rex felt a strange desire to comfort this kindly, older woman that he didn't even know. She swiped at the tears. "I couldn't stop them from going. And, then… they… were all gone," Rosetta looked away, lost in the memory. "With the destruction of our major cities and towns, we lost most of our technology. Some of the women wanted to pick up the fight, and avenge the men. But, it was Karyn who saw where it would all end. She was the one who was treating the wounded. But, there wasn't even a lot of wounded. Mainly it was just a lot of casualties. Just dead, dead and more dead. And, the menfolk had been getting younger and younger until it was hardly more than children who had been getting sent out to war. Karyn lost her sons in the war. They were not even grown men yet. But, they ran off to fight. They died the same day," Rosetta bowed her head for a moment, then gathered her composure. "Her husband had died early on in the war, but when her boys ran off and then get themselves killed… well, that was it for Karyn. She pulled together a group of women into a peace coalition."

"And?" Rex couldn't remain quiet any longer.

"It worked," Rosetta said, simply, "in a manner of speaking. But, by then the planet was in shambles. There really was nothing left of the planet that was once the proud moon of Ando. Karyn gathered the survivors left into this one remote village. This village was still somewhat intact. This is all that's left. One village of 500 people, almost all women, some children, a few old men. The rest are all dead of a planet that was once almost 100,000 strong. Wiped themselves out in a few short years. All just ghost cities. The rest of the planet." The tears streamed down to her face.

Rex was silent in the darkened speeder trying to reconcile the quiet fishing village with the planet's dark past. He could all too easily imagine the ghost cities and shelled-out buildings. He had created more than his fair share of bombed-out buildings. He never had to worry about rebuilding anything or the lives of the civilians afterward. They fought brutal battles, like on Christophsis, and left shattered cities behind.

"Sorry, Captain, didn't mean to throw that all out on you. I'm sure you have troubles of your own," Rosetta laid a gentle hand on Rex's arm.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your family," he took a deep breath, "I've... lost many brothers."

"I'd be honored if you would tell me about them," Rosetta prompted gently.

Rex hesitated. Clones did not naturally discuss their feelings. He was torn. There was something kindly about the older woman. But, he did not know what good it would do to dredge up the past. The Kaminoans bred them to handle stress and just move past it. He sucked in a deep breath. "I..." He shook his head. No, it was too painful. "There's not much to tell."

"Oh, I highly doubt that. I've met some of your men, now, and they're incredible. If I were you, I would be devastated by the loss of any one of them. I've lost a husband, and I've lost sons. You call them your brothers, so that makes them your family. Losing any of them would be as painful as when I lost my family."

Rex closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to see images of Teth. That battle always haunted him. He'd had many difficult battles, but that one always especially bothered him.

Rosetta withdrew her arm. "I apologize. I shouldn't be pushing you. We can just sit for a minute before we head back. It's peaceful here by the sea."

They sat in silence for a long moment, listening to the breaking of the waves, each alone with their thoughts. But, it was Rex who broke the silence. "Before I came here to your planet, I was the Captain of Torrent Company. They're an elite company. The best of the best. Once, in a single day, I lost all of my men. Everyone in my command except for six of us. That was all that was left by the end of the battle. I had to handpick replacements for all of those men who died and I kept thinking what could I have done to save them. I've had many difficult battles but that one plays out in my mind again and again. I keep wondering why I couldn't have saved more of them."

Rex stared out toward the sea, but he could no longer hear the waves. The sounds of the battle at the B'omarr monastery rang through his head filled with the cries of the wounded and dying.

Rosetta gently touched his arm again drawing him back. "It's hard to be the ones who survive," she said quietly.

# # #

It was past 2200 hours when Rosetta dropped Rex back off at Karyn's clinic. She walked him up to the door and gave him a fond hug.

"I'm so glad you and your men are here, Captain. You have breathed new life into this town again," she said to him quietly. "I'll stop by in the morning and bring winter fruit compote."

"I'm not sure I know what that is," Rex admitted, "but, I'd like to try it."

She smiled fondly at him, her eyes tearing up a bit. "You have a kindness about you, Captain. Remind me of my boys, you all do." She sighed heavily, "It's good having you here." She shook her head, "I better go, before I make a fool of myself, crying over you." She gave a brief wave to Karyn and returned to her speeder and drove off into the dark night.

"You certainly made an impression on Rosetta," Karyn said from behind him, "I don't think I've ever seen her get all emotional over anyone like that."

"I suppose we did make a sort of connection," he allowed.

"She's about the toughest old bird in town, but somehow she took a liking to you." She gave Rex a look with the practiced eye of a medical professional. "Alright, we've seen to the rest of your men. That just leaves you."

Rex shook his head. "I'm fine. I may just check in on the wounded here and then you can show me my assigned sleeping spot for the evening." He glanced over at a few of the troopers Karyn had decided to keep in her clinic overnight. All looked to be comfortably resting with their wounds well dressed.

"You can see your men are well cared for and you've run all over town checking the accommodations for the others. You know your men are fine. Stop stalling."

_Krek. She sounds just like Travis._

She wiped down a nearby treatment bed with an antiseptic spray. "Alright, take off as many of those armor pieces as you can manage. I'll help you with the rest. Looks to me like you may have more than a few injuries lurking under there."

Realizing there was no putting this off any longer, Rex reluctantly submitted. He removed his chest plate, and forearms easily enough. But, grimaced at the movement of trying to remove his pauldron or shoulder pads.

"Captain, may I?" she asked, reached forward to help.

Rex nodded to the doctor. Exhaustion was setting in and he was starting to feel the effects of the blast wound to his shoulder.

"I've gotten better with these armor suits of yours now," she said, tugging the top part of his apart and pulling it down as far as his waist. "That's an impressive amount of bruising. This did not happen in today's battle." She slid on a pair of thin examination gloves and lightly ran her hands over his bandaged ribs.

Rex shook his head. "I was also injured when we crashed yesterday. I was not strapped in when we landed."

"That makes sense and explains these injuries I'm seeing. Alright, it will all heal with time, but you should give your body some more time to recover. You have a number of accumulated injuries. A bit of rest would allow your body more time to knit itself back together," Karyn looked more closely at the burn on his shoulder. The pauldron had done its job and deflected much of the blast. But, it couldn't take the full energy of the bolt. The skin underneath was swollen and red, with a large fluid-filled burn blister. Karyn very gently probed the area, and Rex inhaled sharply. "I'm not surprised that hurts. It should have been treated sooner. Alright, for now, we'll need to cover the blister and let it release on its' own. The fluid inside will help the area heal. We have some excellent natural remedies for burns that will help them heal just as well as bacta does. In this case, I'm going to use a combination of sea buckthorn oil and seaweed."

The doctor pulled two jars, a mortar and a pestle from a side cabinet. "These are the remedies our research vessel, _The Manifest Destiny_ , brings back for us," Karyn explained. "It is the same ship which is bringing back your soldier."

"Hok! When can I see him?" Rex asked. Krek. He'd been so busy getting the other wounded settled he should have been pressing for more information about his missing trooper sooner.

"The ship won't be arriving for several more hours, likely closer to dawn. The Manifest Destiny is not a fast ship and it takes them time to work their way back to port. Get some rest, Captain. You'll see him once he arrives."

Rex nodded and quickly tapped off a note on his wrist comlink updating Travis. He didn't even notice the doctor walking away to check on his brothers and then return with a plate of dried fruits and a glass of water.

She handed it to him. "I'm sorry I don't have more prepared."

Rex accepted the plate with a grateful nod. "No, this is great. Thank you." He immediately bit into one of the fruit pieces. It was chewy and tangy but with a lingering sweetness. He quickly consumed all of the pieces on the plate. Karyn left and returned with more. "I don't want to eat all of your rations."

She smiled and pushed the plate into his hands. "It's good to see someone with a healthy appetite. Go on. Enjoy it."

He consumed the second plate of fruit with the same zeal as he'd attacked the first one. Once he finished, he was exhausted.

"You can sleep here," Karyn said, indicating the same bunk where she'd treated him. "I'll get you a blanket."

Rex was already asleep before she returned.


	48. Rex tries diplomacy

The _Manifest Destiny_ pulled into port well past midnight and Xyra instructed Jade to bring their speeder as close to the ramp as possible.

"Don't you two worry about me," Ahsla called out from the cockpit. "I'll do all the shutdown procedures by _myself_. No need to help me." 

Xyra gave her an apologetic wave. "Fine. I owe you. Stop griping and shut the ship down."

"I have the speeder ready," Jade said, coming back up the ramp. "Are we going to take him over to the clinic?"

Xyra glanced down at her chrono. "Not at this hour. Let's bring him to the house instead. Karyn can check him over there. He is responding well to the treatments. His muscles are showing signs of rapid regeneration and there are no further signs of infection."

Jade listened with interest as they headed to the small side space off the galley where they'd placed Hok. "Ah, this was everything you hoped for then, with your research. It works even on life-threatening injuries?" 

Xyra nodded. "We've never been able to field test it like this before. It worked even better than I hoped. There are so many applications for what we've discovered."  
  
"What you discovered, sister. I've only been tagging along to avoid doing other work in town."

They arrived at Hok's bunk. He was sleeping peacefully. No nightmares this time.

"You said there are more like him?" Jade asked, peering at the bare-chested trooper thoughtfully. "How many more?"

"I don't know. He didn't say." She cast an annoyed look at her sister, not liking where this conversation was headed. "Come on, help me get him at least partially dressed. It's too cold to take him through town dressed like he is."  
  
"Oh, I don't know. I think he looks just fine," Jade cocked her head to the side and gave the sleeping soldier another long, considering look, darting a quick teasing glance at her sister to gauge her reaction.  
  
Xyra smacked her sister in the shoulder. "Stop ogling and check the storage lockers for spare clothing. There still should be some stuff in there from... from... " her voice faltered.  
  
Jade immediately sobered up. "Yeah, yeah, alright. I'll get it."

Xyra gently tapped Hok's shoulder to wake him up. "Hey Hok, time to get you out of here. We're here at Ando Town. We just need to get you dressed. I don't think we can get you back into that black suit of yours. We have some other things that might fit you."  
  
Jade returned a few minutes later with her arms bundled with some clothing. "It smells a bit musty from being stored, but I think this will work."   
  
Working together, they carefully eased Hok into a pair of sturdy fisherman's khakis, a homespun plaid shirt and thick boots.   
  
"Let's get you up and we'll get your coat on," Jade said, holding up an olive-green and sea blue long coat.  
  
Xyra's breath hitched in her throat, remembering their eldest brother wearing the coat as he worked on the _Destiny_ before the war. She pushed the thoughts away.   
  
"You'll take care of my kit, yes?" Hok questioned, casting a glance over to the crate containing his damaged armor.  
  
"Bring it along, Jade," Xyra said, pointing to the box, immediately sensing in his tone how important this 'kit' was to Hok.   
  
"Right, right, because my job now is to just fetch things and carry things, of course," Jade huffed, but she moved the crate over by the galley door so he could easily be taken with them, giving the contents a curious glance. "Hok, it's too bad we're coming in at night. You won't get a good view of Ando Town. Such an exciting place," she teased. "Filled with exactly... nothing. You'll love it."

Hok blinked tiredly, already tired just from the effort of getting dressed. "I've had enough excitement for a while."

"Alright, less talking and more focusing on getting you to the speeder," Xyra said, guiding him toward the ship's ramp.

It took just a few minutes by speeder to get to Xyra's two-story wooden house. The fishing village was small, and one could get anywhere within its confines within minutes. But, Hok saw little of the town as they passed through it. His hands clutched his side, and his eyes were closed. He focused on remaining sitting upright in his seat and taking deep even breaths.

"Not much further," Xyra reassured him, giving him a worried glance back from where she was driving the speeder.

Jade and Xyra carefully eased Hok out of the speeder and up the steps. He was pale, and sweat had beaded upon his brow, by the time they got him into the house.

"Let's put him in the spare room downstairs," Xyra said, as they made it through the doorway.

"Not sure what you had in mind for the sleeping arrangements," Jade grumbled, "but that's where I was going to dump him anyway. He's crinkin' heavy."

"I'm fighting fit," Hok objected, although he was breathless from the exertion of moving while injured. "The... Oppee just took me... down a peg."

"Ignore my sister," Xyra said, "you are _not_ heavy." Although, the scientist was struggling as well to hold up the clone as they worked their way into the small spare room. Together, Jade and Xyra maneuvered Hok over to the bed. He was so tired his muscles were quivering.

Hok settled in with a groan, his hands clutching his chest. He went pale as his stitches were pulled as he lay back. He cursed proficiently under his breath in fluent Mando'a.  
  
Jade leaned, listening carefully. "What did you say? What language was that?"  
  
Hok peered at her. "Eh....better I don't translate that last piece. Not fit for polite company."

"Polite company is pushing it when my sister is around." Xyra pulled his boots off and slid a quilt over Hok. "Alright, the worst is over. Do you think you could eat something? I'm going to check to see what we have in the kitchen."  
  
"We never have much food in this place," Jade objected.  
  
Hok didn't respond, his eyes were already closed.   
  
Xyra gestured to her sister and the two sisters quietly exited the room, leaving Hok to rest. 

# # #

Rex woke up before dawn the next morning. He checked on his brothers who'd spent the night at the clinic. They were all still resting comfortably. The doctor had done an excellent job with their recent wounds. He quietly dressed back in his armor, careful not to disturb his sleeping brothers. The burn on his shoulder was already less painful, although he did have to carefully ease on his pauldron. This may not be a Republic medical facility but there was no denying he and his brothers were getting good care. It had been most unexpected on the desolate moon. The doctor/town leader promised an additional update on Hok in the morning, but he did not hear any other sounds of activity in the household.

Rex slipped outside so he could get a situation update with Travis. As the first rays of pre-dawn light spilled out, he spied a weathered stone bench set near a fast-moving river. He cast a curious glance at the turgid waters. wondering if it was a tributary.

Although... if it was a tributary there could be more of those water-dwelling critters about with a taste for clones. In an abundance of caution, he did a thorough sweep of the rushing waters with the sensors in his helmet. No creatures lurking within. Odd. There was _nothing_ living in the waters. Just as there had been nothing living when they'd done the initial sweeps out in the snowy plains near the crashed ship.

Other than the unusual creature that had attacked Hok, and the residents of the town, there were few living creatures on the planet. He tucked that mystery away until later and focused on calling Travis.

['Rex'] Status update.

['Travis'] Torch took a turn for the worse. We also used the last of the rations. What's the situation there? 

['Rex'] Troopers here are all stable and recovering. Some are housed in a clinic and some are quartered with civvies in the town. I haven't seen Hok yet, but his ship apparently docked late in the night.

['Travis'] That's good. We could use some help out here. Talk to the town leader about taking more of our injured. Troopers like Torch and possibly the men in the bio-beds. They're stable, for now, but if the ship loses power they won't last long.  
  
['Rex'] I don't know, Travis. They took our other injured because we fought in a battle together .

['Travis'] We are running out of options here. You need to try a bit of diplomacy. If need be, I can keep the healthiest troopers out here and see if we can hunt for food. But, I'm not sure the injured can survive out here.  
  
['Rex'] I don't know that there is anything alive out there. But, forget about that issue. Understood. Krek. I wish we had something to offer in return if we're asking these civvies to offer quarter for so many of our injured.

['Travis'] We do. Us.

['Rex'] We don't know anything about civilian life. Unless they have more pirates coming, they don't need soldiers in their town.

['Travis'] We're clones. We adapt. You're supposed to the best of the best. Go. Negotiate.

['Rex'] I'll see what I can do on my end. Rex out.

Travis was right, but it did still feel like his new 2IC was ordering him around. Rex pushed out a breath, easing out his frustration. Before he headed back in to see if he could speak with the doctor, he turned his head to watch the village come to life. There were greenhouses of assorted sizes everywhere about the town. Some were crudely made and others looked in danger of coming down but it was obvious the villagers were trying to grow a variety of food in the cold climate. The doctor's house was in the center of town and he could a few small shops dotting the main street of the town. There was some sense of order to the town, even if was all a bit rundown and looked a bit worse for wear. As a Captain, he already wanted to bring more order to some of the chaos he was seeing.   
  
Clones were good with logistics. Travis excelled at logistics, even if his temper always got the better of him.

Except for his trips back to Coruscant, the majority of the towns Rex had come into contact with had been under siege. A building was usually classified as a potential target or a place to take shelter. He'd never spent time in a village that was being used as simply, well, an actual _village_. There was something peaceful about the whole place, even if the place badly needed repair. But, he didn't have time to linger. He needed to provide for his men.

He headed back inside the house to seek out the town leader, Karyn.

"Ah, there you are," Karyn said, gesturing to him as he made his way up the large wrap-around porch of her two-story house. The style of it reminded him of a country house or a farmhouse, but it was made from unpainted weathered woods and decorated with ship wheels and odd bits from ships. "Join me in the kitchen. I just made some root-caf."

"Root-caf?" he questioned, following her into the large kitchen directly off the porch. The early morning rays cast the room in an inviting golden glow. 

"It's all we have at this time of year, I'm afraid. Brewed from the Chicor root. Grows wild over on Rosetta's ranch. She kindly describes the stuff as tasting a lot like caf. I think that's generous. I prefer chaga caf. But, the crop failed last year. I'm afraid most of us here, myself included, do not have much of a knack for farming. I can save living things but I seem hopeless at growing them." She handed him a chipped ceramic mug filled with a strong-smelling brew. 

Rex gave the brew an experimental sniff and then took a sip. It had an earthy aroma and the taste kicked him in the back of the taste buds. He liked it immediately and took another long sip, enjoying the bold and bitter taste. "It's very good."

She gave him a smile filled with genuine warmth. "I think you're the only one other than the Rosetta that can say that about root-caf. No wonder she likes you. You're kindred spirits. Can I get you some food? You didn't eat last night."

His stomach growled at the mention of food. But, he couldn't allow himself to eat while his men were going hungry. He shook his head. "I need to talk with you first about my men."

Karyn nodded and gestured to the scarred and battered wooden table, indicating they should sit.

Rex sat and stretched out, grimacing as the pins and needles feeling returned to his leg again. He rubbed one hand at his leg to try to relieve the awful sensation in his leg so he could focus on the conversation. He wished Lance were here with another of his injections to make the feeling go away. The medic seemed to love stabbing people, but he was highly effective in his treatments. The tingle was maddening like the limb was trying to wake up and couldn't quite do so. 

He took another long bracing gulp of the caf and bluntly launched into the most pressing issue. "We have more injured back at our ship. Men that were not injured in the battle."  
  
Her eyes widened in surprise. "They were injured in the crash?"

"Yes," he conceded, "and, no. One of the troopers was badly injured during the landing, but the rest of our troopers are all battle-injured, like me. Our entire transport is a shipful of battle-injured clones."

Karyn looked thoughtful, absorbing this news. "Your men fought so well yesterday, I didn't realize. Wait, even Travis?"  
  
Rex nodded. "He's completely deaf. He reads lips and has to rely upon the technology in his helmet to communicate."  
  
Karyn's lips formed into an "oh." She was thoughtful another moment, one hand idly tracing around the rim of her mug as she thought. "What you're telling me is consistent with the injuries I was seeing when I treated the troopers here at the clinic last night. They all had fresh injuries like you did, from the battle yesterday, and then older injuries in various states of healing. I didn't want to be too invasive in asking them questions while I was treating them. How many more like you are there?"

"89 clones still out on the transport. Most of our troopers are still there. The ones who came here yesterday are only a small portion of our men."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this yesterday?" Karyn asked, without malice. "We perhaps could have tried to make more room to accommodate more in the speeders back to the town."

Rex pushed out a sigh. "The circumstances under which we landed here are... complicated."

"What manner of complicated?" Karyn asked, her voice wary. Rex recognized the tone. He used it himself as a Captain when he wasn't sure if he was about to commit to something which could place his men in danger.

Rex finished off his caf with a bracing slug. "Ma'am, could I trouble you for more?" If he was going to tell this story, he at least wanted to do it on a comfortable level of caffeine.

The doctor shook her head. "First off, you will refer to me as Karyn. Everyone here does. There is no level of formality in this town. And, no, you're going to eat something first." Karyn rose up and cut thick slices of a rough-hewn seedy bread. She placed the slabs on a plate in front of Rex. "I can tell by the shaking of your hands you're at risk of entering a state of hypoglycemia which tells me you've been low on food for a while. The same is probably true for your other men out there. I know there is nothing to eat out on that tundra where your ship crashed. You'll tell me what happened and then I'm sending our warriors out there to retrieve your men so we can get everyone over here for proper food and medical treatment. We don't have much here in our town, but we will share."

"I haven't even told you what happened to us yet."

"We are Andoans. We are not without compassion. Now eat."

Rex took a bite of the bread. It tasted very unrefined compared to the processed synth-food food he was fed in the GAR. The bread had an earthy root taste to it, much like the caf, but the seeds gave it a nice texture. He liked it immediately, especially how it settled on his palate with the caf. He polished it off in several large bites. Karyn refilled his caf cup, as promised, and cut him two more slices of the bread. He shook his head. "I can't. My men haven't eaten."

She pressed the plate toward him insistently. "I will see that all of your troopers get fed. No one will go hungry today. Now eat."  
  
"Thank you," he smiled gratefully, already feeling better, and launched in his story. "You spoke some to me and some to Travis. So, you understand we are soldiers of the Republic, yes?"

Karyn nodded. "Yes, I've been told some of the pieces of your story both first and second hand now. You are part of what I believe is called 'the Grand Army of the Republic.' They decided to use a clone army and that is where you come in." 

Rex nodded. "Exactly. When clones are injured, they are usually sent to medical centers. There are a couple of large ones designed to get us back in action as quickly as possible. But, if a clone does not recover quickly enough, we are sent away because we can no longer fight." 

Karyn's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure I understand. What do you mean?"

"We no longer have value. We are soldiers. We exist to fight."

She shook her head. "I still don't understand."

"We were commissioned to fight a war. Once we can no longer do that, we no longer have a use. So, we are sent back to our cloners for disposal. That's where we were being sent when our ship crashed."

Karyn's eyes widened with outrage and horror. "Disposal?"

"Actually, it's called decommissioning. I believe they use lethal injection. I've never seen it done, but that is my understanding."

"The Republic allows this outrage?!" Karyn's hand was gripping her mug so tightly her hands had turned white.

"I don't think the Jedi know about it. This is more the doing of the Kaminoans who created us. They are perfectionists and very proprietary about their cloning process."  
  
Karyn's eyes were livid with outrage. "This is unbelievable."  
  
Rex pushed out a breath. "I speak the truth, ma'am."  
  
Karyn reached a hand across the table. "Please call me Karyn, everyone here does. I am not doubting your story, Rex. I am just outraged such a thing is allowed."  
  
Rex pushed his plate back, his appetite gone. "Our ship crashing here saved our lives." He took a deep breath and looked into Karyn's brown eyes. It was difficult to ask for help, but he'd promised Travis he would do so on behalf of their men. "We don't know how to do much except for being soldiers. But, we are clones and we adapt. Maybe there are ways we can help around your town. Some way for us to earn our keep." His eyes widened as he thought of the greenhouses and a memory popped up from Saleucemai. "I once met a clone who was a farmer. A good one, I believe. Maybe there is a way we can help you and earn our keep, if you'll have us. At least, until we can get our ship fixed and figure out someplace else we can safely go."  
  
Karyn's eyes lit up with excitement. "Captain, you said your ship crashing saved the lives of your men. But, this town has been struggling. We have a severe labor shortage. We have greenhouses and not enough people to staff them. We've been searching for alternate food sources out in the sea, hoping to find new sources of edible algae. But, we don't have enough people to go out on our ships or even people to help repair the ships we have left. I will take in _all_ of your men and find housing for them. You can repair your ship and decide if you want to go, but let's give this a try. This town needs help. Your men could be what saves this town. We'll try it on a short-term basis and if it works out, we can take about something longer. Agreed?"

Rex nodded. This was much better than he'd hoped. "We have one trooper at our ship who is critically ill. He hit his head during the crash. Travis said he took a turn for the worse overnight. I'd like to expedite getting him back over here for treatment."

"I'll get my medical bag and gather as many women with speeders as I can. Let's head back out to your ship, Captain. Let's start bringing more wounded back to town."  
  
# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the original version of "Whatever Happened to Captain Rex?", Ando was an idyllic place. Even though they were five years out from the war, they had plenty of food with fresh fish from the sea, baked goods and had no issues absorbing the clones into their populace. Now that I am rewriting the story, I've rethought this approach.
> 
> After all, they are five years out from a major conflict. So, what does that mean for the town? 
> 
> They would have shortages of... everything. Food. Labor. Materials.
> 
> This is now reflected in the narrative. Much of this approach has been inspired by my mom's story of growing up during WWII in Germany and life after the war. She was a little girl when the war began. Her youngest brother died during the war after an Allied bombing run and her father was taken prisoner in a failed offensive on the Russian front. (Yes, he was in the German army, obviously.) She grew up with just her mom and remaining brothers in incredible poverty. Few other kids had fathers because all the men had gone to war. There were shortages of everything. She is not bitter about her upbringing. She is just resilient. My Oma (German grandmother) was also an incredibly resilient woman. I loved visiting her in Bavaria and seeing the large greenhouse that allowed her to grow vegetables in the winter. She cooked on an old wood-burning stove and barely heated her house, even in winter, because she was so hearty and her needs were so simple. (I used to sleep with my coat on when I went to visit.) She never owned a car and rode her bike everywhere, even in the winter. She was so fit I could not keep up with her. I would chase after her on my bike as we ran errands shouting: "Langsammer, Oma!" (Slow down/Wait up Grandmother!) I was incredibly inspired by all of these strong women in my life. These are the Andoan women warriors.
> 
> I live in California now and I am a vegan. The original version of the story had the townspeople eating large amounts of fish. I am changing the narrative to have them focus on more earth-friendly, renewable sources of food.


	49. A new beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clones abandoned by the Republic get a second chance on a forgotten backwater in the mid-Rim

Karyn’s network was impressive. Within minutes they had scrambled a half dozen speeders to head back out to the ship. Karyn left caf, water and food on a side table for the injured in the clinic. Her thoughtfulness toward his men went a long way with him. He wasn’t used to anyone other than brothers caring for his brothers, and perhaps a few select Jedi, like Skywalker, Ahsoka and General Kenobi. 

Rex rode in the lead speeder once again with Karyn, his mind focused on his men, and not much in the mood to talk. Karyn didn’t press him for conversation and they were silent for the ride back out to the ship.

The base camp was already alive with activity when they arrived and it was a relief for Rex to see his brothers again. It had been less than half a day since he’d seen them last, but he still didn’t like being separated from them.  
  
Travis greeted him as soon as he emerged from the speeder, thumping on the back in a brotherly hug. It was unexpected, but not unwelcomed, and he returned the gesture.  
  
The women who spilled from the speeders behind him started handing out foodstuffs. This surprised Rex as there had been little time to prepare before they’d headed back out to the ship. These women warriors could give clones a run for their creds in how quickly they could scramble. 

Price and Hodges immediately made their way to the front of the pack of troopers curiously eyeing both the women and the supplies they’d brought. They did their Kaminoan flash training proud as they politely thanked the women, several times, before accepting the rations and distributing them out to their brothers.

“Travis,” Karyn said, “it is good to see you again. I understand you have a wounded man who needs immediate care?”

Travis nodded. “Yes, right this way.” He led the way back inside the ship. “Our two medics have been monitoring him constantly, but his vitals started dropping during the night.” He led the way to the front side corner of the ship where a bed had been for Torch. “This is Lance, our chief medic.”  
  
“Hello,” Karyn greeted. “I’m a doctor. I’m hoping I can be of assistance. What can you tell me about his injuries?”

“He is craniocerebral trauma as a result of the collision,” Lance said, running his scanner over Torch and then holding the results out so Karyn could read it.  
  
She scanned the results and then nodded. “Has he regained consciousness at all?”  
  
“No,” Lance said, “but he hasn’t vomited either.”  
  
“No seizures?” Karyn questioned.

“None.”  
  
She took out her medical bag and did her own examination, checking his pulse rate and pupil dilation. She finished her exam and looked thoughtful. “I agree he could be suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury. But, he may recover on his own with rest. There are both hopeful signs here and troubling ones.”  
  
“I agree fully,” Lance said. “What are your recommendations?”  
  
“I’d like to bring him back to my clinic for monitoring. See if he improves at all with further rest which would indicate his condition is caused by intracranial swelling. There is a chance it will reduce on its own. Otherwise, he may need surgery,” Karyn said.

Lance gave her a speculative look. “We’re not equipped with a med-droid here. Do you have the facilities to do such a surgery?”  
  
“No med-droids in Ando. Just me. But, I understand the procedure and I’ve had full medical training. If need be, I believe you and I could accomplish it together.”  
  
Lance looked surprised. “Me? I’m a combat medic. I patch up wounded in the field and send them on for treatment.”  
  
“I’m sure you are a lot more than that,” Karyn said kindly. “You seem to have an excellent grasp of medicine. If it comes down to it, we will save this man’s life.”  
  
She turned to Rex and Travis. “Let’s get him loaded into the speeder and we should have room for another dozen men in the speeders.”  
  
Lance and Mako worked with Karyn to load Torch in the speeder, while Rex and Travis conferred on what other men should head first into the town. Rex quickly caught Travis up on the conversation with Karyn.

“Wait,” Travis said, his voice clearly showing his excitement, “she is willing to let _all_ of us quarter in town in exchange for work?”

“Yes, we will be able to earn our keep.”  
  
“Krek! You did good brother,” Travis gave Rex an enthusiastic slap on the back, eliciting a grunt out of him.  
  
“I’d like to get the men in the bio-beds transported as soon as possible,” Rex said, casting an eye toward the paralyzed troopers.  
  
“Me, too, but there’s a logistical issue. How do we fit them in the speeders?” Travis frowned, looking at the large beds. “Those beds not only keep them warm, but they take care of their other bio-needs since they’re always confined to the bed.”  
  
“Wait, is that all they do?” Rex asked, giving the beds a speculative look.  
  
“I guess the beds have a few more functions, like they move their muscles around a bit to keep them from getting sore from being in bed all the time. But, yes, basically, that’s about it.”  
  
“So, we could take them out of the beds as long as we keep them warm on the way back to town.”  
  
Travis shook his head. “You’re taking a big chance. These are men who already have spinal injuries. Do you really want to be moving them around that much?”  
  
Rex nodded. “Alright, fair point. I’ll talk to Karyn and see if she has any ideas.”

“No, no, allow me,” Travis said, already heading out to find the doctor.  
  
Rex shook his head and headed over to say hello to the men in the bio-beds. 

Catcher was awake and greeted him warmly. “Hey, Captain, good to see you. I heard you all did a hell of a job fighting those pirates,” he huffed out a sigh. “Wish I could get back in the fight.”  
  
“Hang tight,” Rex said. “We’re trying to figure out a way to safely transport you without moving you from these beds.”  
  
Catcher frowned. “I can leave this bed. I think they just threw me in one of these as a sort of punishment for not cooperating.”  
  
“Wait- what?” Rex stared at him astonished.  
  
Catcher pushed out a long sigh. “It’s complicated. Short version of it is I was part of an experimental medical program to augment my legs after I was injured. I refused to continue on with the program or the treatments after a while. I was decommissioned, thrown in one of these beds and sent away. My spine is stable. I’ve had a number of surgeries. I just can’t walk.”  
  
“Can you sit comfortably in a speeder?”

“Yes. I’m sure of it. Just don’t ask me to run all the way back to town.”  
  
“Run all the way back to town?” Travis said, approaching with Karyn. “That’s a hell of a good idea, Catcher.”  
  
Rex groaned. “He was not serious. There’s no way-”  
  
“It’s not impossible,” Karyn interjected, although she was clearly distracted by the sight of the bio-beds. “Someone in very good shape could probably make the journey in two to three hours. This is just two ridges over from town.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Rex muttered, not liking where this was headed.  
  
“So, there are five of these beds, then?” Karyn asked. “I’ve heard of such beds, but not seen them before.”

“Make that four,” Catcher said. “I want _out_ of mine. I don’t know about the others, but my spine is stable and I don’t need to be in here. I’ll happily leave this farkin’ thing anytime. And, check with Razor.” He pointed to the bio-bed next to him. “He’s only paralyzed from the waist down, too. If his spinal is stable, he doesn’t actually need to be in one of these farkin-”   
  
“Language!” Travis barked, jerking his chin back toward Karyn to indicate they were in polite company.   
  
Rex had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Since when did Travis restrain himself from mouthing off?  
  
Razor pushed himself up onto an elbow looking over at the conversation with interest. "I'm in."  
  
“Alright, I’ll give both of you a quick exam and you can come back with us now. Rosetta has a large speeder she uses out on her ranch. It is the biggest transport vehicle we have left in town. It would work for moving these beds if we do them one at a time," Karyn said, eyeing the size of the medical beds.  
  
"I have an idea for rigging up a short-term power supply so there is no interruption in the functioning of the beds," Razor called from his bed, pulling out his datapad and immediately making some furious notes. Travis looked on with interest and the two of them were immediately deep in discussion.

Karyn cast a curious glance back toward Razor, already prodding Catcher and checking his reflexes.   
  
"That's Razor," Rex said by way of introduction, "he has a knack for innovative solutions."  
  
Karyn looked back over her shoulder at called out to Razor. She smiled warmly. "Welcome, Razor. You will fit in very well in Ando Town. You are exactly what this town needs. We need people with new ideas and fresh thinking."  
  
Razor's eyes widened in surprise before he beamed proudly like he'd been given a second lease on life. He immediately bent back down to tapping out a sketch on his diagram with suggestions from Travis.  
  
 _A second lease on life,_ Rex realized, _could all of these men be given such a chance?_ _Even these troopers tossed in beds and abandoned and sent off to be euthanized?_ He looked at Catcher and Razor, and the other three men who had more extreme levels of paralysis, Tag, Sink and Saby in the bio-beds. He had a certain affinity toward these men having experienced such a severe level of injury to his leg and having lost feeling in the joint. Rex had done enough reading on the topic on his datapad after he was injured to know loss of feeling in an affected area could be caused by either trauma with nerve injury, as was his case, or damage in the nervous system. The damage to his nerves was slowly healing itself, maybe due to the genetic tampering by the Kaminoans that created soldiers with accelerated healing abilities. None of them had been given sufficient time to heal. He wondered if the rest of these men could recover at least some functioning if given enough time. Would they be left alone on this desolate moon? Could these men find purpose again outside of being a soldier? 

# # #

The injured had been transported back to the clinic within an hour and the treatment room was filled to overflowing. Once Karyn had examined each of the troopers and provided treatment, she divided them up into those who needed to stay and those who could be quartered with townspeople. Volunteers started coming by the clinic to collect troopers. Rex insisted on going with each one so he had the peace of mind of knowing where they would be quartered.  
  
By noontime, he was both starving and tired.  
  
“Come on,” Karyn said, gesturing him toward the kitchen, “take a break. I need one, too.”  
  
He sat with her in the sunny kitchen and ate a simple meal of sweet potatoes and winter greens, but it was still a lot better than the synth food aboard the ship.  
  
“Alright,” Karyn said, “once they had finished. I promised you could see your missing trooper. I believe his name is Hok. Are you ready to go?”

Rex was amazed at the boundless energy of the town doctor/leader/warrior women. He nodded, slipped his helmet back on, and followed her out the door.

# # #

Hok didn't wake up again until the morning. As sunlight streamed into the guest bedroom, he looked around in confusion. He'd slept like one who was dead and had no idea where he was or how he'd ended up there.He tried to prop himself up onto his elbows to get a better look around but groaned from the movement.  
  
A face appeared around the door and came into the room. Xyra was suddenly there, emerging in his line of sight so he could easily read her lips. “Hey, good morning.”

"Xyra,” he stated as memories came flooding back. 

"Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling?"  
  
“Eh… a bit… er… chewed up.”  
  
She laughed. “I can imagine your pain levels must be high. Let me get you a bit of water and then I’m going to reapply the mixture of sea cucumber remedy to your injuries."   
  
Hok scowled. "You need a better name for that goop," he licked dry parched lips as he looked around at his surroundings. "This is your house?"

"Yes, we came in late last night.” she reached for a glass of water next to the bed and prepared to help him drink it.

"I’m fine. I’ve got this,” he said, reaching for the water.

He attempted to sit up again and hissed from the movement. He admitted defeat with a sigh. "Eh… I may... need a little help."

She shook her head. "I don't think you're going to be able to move much for at least a week or more. But, I admire your stubborness.  
  
Hok snorted with amusement. "Thank you. That's a quality they were never quite able to get out of our genome."

“I’m going to check your stitches now. And, we’re going to get visitors in a bit. Karyn, our town doctor is coming by to check your injuries along with one of your people. A Captain Rex?"

"The Captain is here?! Did more of my brothers make it here, too?"   
  
Xyra shook her head. "Yes, I believe there are about ten of them here in town. Is that all of them, or are there more?"  
  
Hok shook his head. "There are more." He wondered if the rest of the scouts were among those who made it to town. It would be such a relief to see his brothers alive again. "After that Opppe got a hold of me, I didn’t think I’d see any of my brothers again.”

"Alright, I'm going to apply this remedy," she said the word carefully, "to your injuries. There may be some discomfort at first and then you should feel a lot better. In the meantime, maybe you can work on coming up with a better name for it."  
  
He smiled again, enjoying the easy banter with Xyra. It helped take his mind off his pain. His side and leg were burning. Any relief would be welcomed. But, as Xyra unbuttoned his shirt and then his pants, he noticed some new and uncomfortable sensations. Being treated by a civvie woman was an entirely different feeling from getting treated by a med-droid or a clone medic.

“I'll try to be as careful as I can, so I don't hurt you," Xyra said, as she eased the pants off, "the damage to the muscles in your leg is significant. I'm confident you will heal in time, but the bite marks are deep."

"Uh, yeah, I remember that part," Hok said. He was forced to keep looking at Xyra so he could read her lips, but he wanted to look away and just stare at the wall. He was feeling uncomfortable on so many levels. "My armor is what saved me otherwise I'm sure it would have taken my leg and then cut me in two once it got a hold of my side."

Xyra winced. "I can't imagine. That sounds awful."

"At the time, I was so busy trying to shoot it, I couldn't think much past trying to take it down. But, this is somehow worse than a blaster burn, and those always feel like you're being cooked from the inside out." He studied Xyra with interest as she removed the layers of bandages from his leg. "I still can't believe you jumped in there and pull me out. That creature could have turned on you." 

"It was not how I usually act. My sister thinks I am mad for doing it.”  
  
“Why _did_ you do it?”  
  
“I don’t know. I just acted without thinking I guess, but I couldn't just watch that creature take you down. It was wrong somehow."

Hok shook his head, "I still don't understand why you would take such a risk. I'm only a clone."

Xyra stopped in what she was doing and stared him down. "You're much more than just a clone. I don't know why you would think such a thing."

"But, I am," Hok said insistently, "I'm one of many. You'll see when you meet my brothers."

She shook her head. "Even if you have brothers that look like you, that does not take away from your uniqueness. It is your experiences that make you different."

Hok stared at her in puzzled confusion. "I've met very few civvies, but none have treated me like you do."  
  
"Like what?" Xyra questioned, carefully tugging the last of the bandage away.  
  
"Like there is any value to my existence other than shooting tinnies."  
  
Xyra started working on spreading the cooling gel on his leg.   
  
Hok hissed at first as it stung the healing flesh but then sighed in relief.

"I don't know what has happened to the Republic," Xyra said quietly, working quickly and efficiently and moving on to remove the bandages on his side. "But, how you've been treated is wrong. Our town might be small and half-falling apart, but we know how to treat people like people."

# # #

"Hok, from the reports of your fellow scouts about being viciously attacked and dragged to sea by a giant reptile, I didn't expect to see you looking so well.” Rex studied the scout. He was bare-chested and his side and leg were heavily bandaged. But, his coloring was good and his eyes were alert.

“That beastie was no match for the pride of the 38th Armored," Hok said. "Took 'em down with a single shot to the eye."  
  
Rex tilted his head to the side with interest. "I took down a Rishi eel once in the same manner. Well done."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't be alive if Ms. Xyra here hadn't jumped in the water to fish me out."  
  
Rex acknowledged Xyra with a gracious nod, "On behalf of my men, I'd like to thank you for saving Scout Hok. That was an act of bravery worthy of the finest among us."

Xyra nodded and blushed, struck speechless.

The doctor turned to Hok, "I need to check your injuries now."

"Captain, can I get you some caf?" Xyra extended a hand, pointing toward her kitchen.  
  
“Yes. Do you have root-caf?"   
  
Xyra laughed. “I'm surprised you are a fan. Half the townsfolk can't stand the stuff. Come on, I'll show you how to grind the roots."  
  
Rex nodded and followed Xyra from the room. He followed the scientist downstairs to her kitchen and joined her at her kitchen table for some caf. Like Karyn's kitchen table, the furniture was all made out of wood, and the seats were benches. Xyra talked him through the process of grinding the root down so it could be placed in a simple sieve and do a pour of hot water over the top. The preparation was more like one of the teas the Jedi seemed to favor, but the smell and taste reminded him of bitter trooper caf. It was perfect. Xyra carried two large mugs of the fresh brew over to a wooden table worn smooth with age.  
  
Rex set his crutches aside and settled down on one of the benches.

Xyra set the mug in front of him and then nodded her head toward one of Rex's crutches, "Captain, if you don't mind my asking, what happened to your leg?"

Rex took a long draught of the caf, savoring the kick of the dark brew. He took a moment to reply, trying to simplify what had happened and censor all the portions of what had been a classified mission. He might be decommissioned, but he would still never betray the Republic. He chose his words carefully. "I was hit directly in the kneecap. Broke my leg and shattered my knee and damaged the surrounding nerves."

Xyra looked at him with renewed interest. "Nerve damage?"  
  
Rex tapped his injured knee, then grimaced from the contact, "Yes, my understanding is you are the one who is doing the research on nerve regeneration. I have an entire crew of men just like me. We're all injured. Some are more visible than others. As I imagine Hok told you, he was full-on deaf, although it seems to me he's hearing a bit better. We have a high percentage of deaf crewmen, including the rest of Hok's scouts, and my second-in-command, Travis. We have three quadriplegics, one paraplegic, several amputees, and men with leg injuries/mobility issues, like myself. While I don’t understand the exact mechanics of your research and how it works, these are men who were written off by the Republic. If you could offer them some hope, or another chance at recovery, it… “ he pushed out a sigh, not sure how to finish the thought.  
  
Xyra looked shocked and then her eyes lit up with the excitement of a scientist on a mission. “As Karyn probably told you, my field of study is sea-based cures. But, our population is so small, I've had very few people to try them out on. When can I meet everyone?"   
  
“About twenty of my men are already here in town. We’re still working on arrangements for the rest.”  
  
“Somehow I don’t think you’ll have issues finding places for your men to stay.”  
  
Rex nodded. Yes, strangely enough, that had already been his experience, as well.

When Karyn returned downstairs about twenty minutes later, Rex and Xyra were deep in a discussion about the scientific basis of her sea remedies and nerve regeneration.

Karyn noticed in talking to Hok that he was absolutely enamored with Xyra. As he described the story of his rescue from the Oppee, his eyes just lit up whenever he mentioned Xyra's name. It seemed he could not say enough good things about his rescuer. He laughed easily and smiled often.

There was a certain charm to all of these clones. They were all different, but Rosetta was right. There was a core kindness to them that was most unexpected.

“Come on, Captain,” Karyn said, “let’s work on getting the rest of your troopers to Ando Town.”  
  
# # #  
  



	50. Crisis at Ord Cestus

Cody slept most of the time, but when he was awake, the Jedi healer was always there. He was aware of her hands on his brow, the back of his neck and his ribs. Her soft voice spoke to him, explaining what she was doing at every step, and even though he was too drowsy to respond, he listened to her voice. He appreciated her treating him like he was a human and not just subjecting him to medical treatments without consent, as had always been the case with the Kaminoans. As she worked, he could feel a spreading warmth on the back of his neck and the sound of her voice both in his ears and somehow in his head. Normally, he'd object to anything in his mind, especially Jedi-related. But, this Jedi was his only hope of rescuing the 212th. It was more than, though, he realized he trusted her, which was a rare thing, as he generally only trusted his brothers and his General. 

At times, he could hear arguments in the corridor or in his room between the healer, Barriss Offee, and the other doctors at Ord Cestus. The senior-level care team at Cestus had always been a mixture of natborns and Kaminoans. Cody had never thought much of them, but they'd always been a necessary means to getting back to his unit. In this case, though, it was clear they were displeased and the arguments centered around him. He wasn't sure how much time passed before his body started to strengthen and he could stay awake for longer periods of time. His complete exhaustion eased up a bit.

He blinked and looked around in confusion staring at the Jedi healer. "Wh...." He huffed out a sigh of exasperation. His lips were so dry he couldn't form words, but he was sure this time his brain remember how. "What..."  
  
"Hold on, let's get some water in you first," Barriss used a special dropper to dispense a small portion of water in his mouth. She moistened his lips with a damp cloth.   
  
He swallowed. Krek. That helped a great deal. "More," he demanded.

She smiled, amused. "Actually, see if you can get some of this down." she held up a clear cup containing a pepper-green and dull-brown swirl of liquid.

"What is it?" he asked, impressed with himself he managed a full sentence. He eyed the unappealing-looking mixture. The odd color palette reminded him of the diminutive Jedi General, Yoda, but that did not make him any more inclined to want to drink it.

"A nutritional supplement. I've been blending them for you myself. You've been drinking them for the past two days. You've asked me this question before. You don't remember?"

Cody furrowed his brow in confusion. Eh... maybe? Everything since the time he arrived at the medical center was still a muddled blur. She brought the straw to his lips and he sipped the protein drink. It was cool, mildly sweet and tasted familiar. Ah, yes, he did remember now. The taste brought back memories of Barriss patiently answering his questions and urging him to drink to regain his strength. It was a blend of kavasa, Antarian peas, Brekka beet, Malla petals, Mepple, meiloorun, mook, thalassa seeds, denta beans, kibla greens and barabel fruit (for sweetness.) Yes, he did ask her this question each time he woke up.   
  
That was frustrating. He just wanted to heal and be done with it.

"I remember now," Cody confirmed. He took a sip and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You sweetened it more," he took another sip, and closed his eyes, enjoying the flavor. He opened his eyes again and noticed the Jedi healer was studying him intently. "Eh... thank you." 

She looked away, a slight flush of green flooding her cheeks. "I increased the barabel fruit. You have a fondness for sweet things."

"Yes," he was pleased somehow that she'd noticed and his preferences mattered. It was most unexpected. He finished the rest of the drink, while Barriss held the cup to his lips, urging him to take small sips. She was patient with him. He remembered now she'd been very patient with him in the muddled, fuzzy times he'd been awake. 

She frowned, puzzled. "Why wouldn't I show such patience?"

Krek. Had he said that aloud?

She shook her head. "The treatments we're doing are forming a bond between us. It's only temporary, I assure you."

He frowned. "Wait. How much can you hear?"

"Only the thoughts you project loudly and those you wish me to hear. Once your treatments are done, the bond will break between us. Do not be alarmed." She studied him with a practiced eye. "You're already looking better. Some of your coloring has returned. By increasing the caloric content in your nutrient mixtures, you are putting weight back on."

"Thank you," he said again. Not used to any sort of compassion, outside of his brothers when he was injured. "I have to get back out there." He was willing to undergoing these experimental treatments. Whatever it took, but the 212th was missing and he aimed to find his way back to them. "Those arguments in the corridor with the other doctors, what were they saying?" He wasn't sure if she would answer. But, so far she'd treated him as an individual with worth, and that was rare enough in the treatment of clones.

Barriss inhaled sharply, a flash of irritation crossing her features before she suppressed it and schooled herself back into the picture of Jedi calm. "We have sharp differences of opinion on the best way to handle your care and who has the ultimate authority in this matter. The Kaminoans especially believe have taken offense to my work."  
  
Cody understood immediately. "It is interfering with their quality control. Their business model hinges on it." It was a topic he and the other command clones had discussed at length. The Kaminoans were so extreme in their practice of perfection it was a religion and obsession to them. "But, they'll let you continue, correct?" Cody asked, a spike of alarm surging in him, knowing how this went for clones who could not heal fast enough.

"Yes," Barriss said, although there was hesitancy in her reply. "I admit I face daily challenges in your continued treatment. The doctors here would have kept you under sedation until you either healed or passed on. They did not seem patient for either one of those outcomes. They're convinced my work will either fail or simply drive the fragments into your brainstem."

"The Kaminoans are driving this all of this," he bit his lip, thinking what happened to Rex. "They're trying to control their product."

"I wouldn't have worded it that way, but yes, that is the sentiment. Cody, know that the Jedi are aware of the problem now and are pushing for more humane treatment of the clone army at all levels."

 _Humane would be not having a clone army in the first place,_ Cody thought, but he kept silent.

Aw, krek.

A flash of sadness crossed Barriss' face, before she schooled her face back into a placid expression after a moment, hiding the emotions away. "You will need to be patient. Healing takes time."

It was also clear the Jedi did not have full control over the Kaminoans or the clone army. He hissed in frustration. "What can we do? I can't shake the feeling the 212th needs me."

"Cody," Barriss said, using the Force to guide his empty cup into a nearby flash bin, "there are commando teams scouring the Mid and Outer Rim looking for the missing Legions"

"Yet, they have not found them," Cody confirmed, unable to keep a tinge of bitterness from his voice.

"We cannot lose hope."

"Hope is _not_ enough," he stared into her eyes, willing her to understand. If they _were_ bonded now, a term he understood as he felt bonded to some of his vode, then he would will her to understand what the 212th meant to him. He shared with her the closeness he shared with Trapper, who both drove him crazy, and made him proud. He showed her how Waxer and Boil had grown so much as troopers and Waxer's potential to be a leader. He showed her the men he'd lost under his command and how much that _hurt_. He shared with her the pain of losing Rex.

Barriss started to tremble at the onslaught of emotions. "Alright," she sucked in a deep breath, "I... understand. There is one thing we can try. But, it is not without risks."  
  
"Tell me," Cody demanded.

Barriss sucked in another breath. "I can add additional healing sessions. I've not done something like this before, not even for another Jedi. But, we may be able to speed up the rate of your recovery. It will feel more... invasive at such a pace."

Cody considered this option. He already knew the treatments Barriss was doing meant she had low-level access to his mind, through his mental shields. Was he willing to allow something even more invasive for the sake of recovering faster? Was it worth the risk? Was she saying he could lose his sense of self, or die from this procedure? It didn't matter anymore. Everything was on the line.

"Yes," he agreed, "show me what to do."

# # #

Barriss took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "Follow my lead. Take several long deep breaths. We are going to focus on taking in as much air as possible. This will be difficult for you, at first, as your lungs are not fully healed. But, go as deep as you can manage. Breathe with me. In long and slow for the count of three. Out for the count of five. Do it again. Listen to my voice."

He closed his eyes. Barriss pushed against his mind, the feeling now familiar. It still made him uncomfortable, but he pushed past it, dropping his mental shields and allowing her access. Her voice filled his mind.  
  
\- You can hear me.  
  
_Yes._

\- Everything will feel more intense. You were more sedated before and on more medication. You're more awake and alert now and I'm doing a deeper level of healing. I can sometimes draw strength from the person I am healing, connect with them, during the healing process. This is much more easily accomplished if they are awake and aware of what is happening to them. It is this ability that allows those who are strong in the Force to heal unusually quickly.

_I understand. I'm ready._

\- Start by relaxing, Cody. We can't get much accomplished if you are in a hyper-vigilant state.

Despite his impatience, Barriss felt Cody force his mind into a relaxed state. He also even further let down his mental barriers. Barriss was impressed. She had no idea where he'd even learned how to erect such barriers in the first place. She felt a slight trickle of amusement from him. He was sensing as much through their bond as she was. It was a very strange experience. She had never been this intimately connected with any clone while doing healing before. Nervous, and feeling like she was taking a step into something new, she wasn't quite sure what, Barriss plunged on.

She connected more deeply with Cody's mind, trying to avoid prying into anything deeply personal. She was awash in his most recent memories, starting with waking up and seeing her in his room and then going back through the events that had transpired on Kaz'haria. She sent him a strong wave of calming energy, soothing the panic that arose as he remembered the last chaotic minutes of the battle. She felt his fear, not for himself, but for his brothers left behind on the planet.

Cody sent _her_ a feeling of positive energy, confidence in her abilities as a healer.

Holding on to the positive connection she'd established, Barriss began to work her way toward Cody's injury site. She'd worked on his injury before, but it had been slow, exhausting work. She could already feel a difference now. She was cocooned in a strong layer of his energy, positive, warm and flowing. She worked her way down past the first few undamaged vertebrae, and down to the base of the neck. The first of the shell fragments came into view. She could feel Cody's surprise as they came upon the foreign invaders that were now keeping him a prisoner inside his own body. She immediately went to work on the largest fragment, the one that had thus far proved the most challenging. She wrapped her energy around the fragment and visualized it growing smaller. She was surprised how much easier the work was this time. She was able to hold on to the fragment for a much longer amount of time. The fragment shrunk in size, but she began to tire.

_Keep going._

To her surprise, Cody joined her in visualizing the fragment, focusing on making it smaller. She had no idea what effect this would have, but she felt a renewed burst of healing energy. She felt Cody's elation, and this provided her with additional strength. She realized she was willing to push the envelope a great deal for Cody. They continued on, working together, far longer than Barriss had intended. Barriss then became aware that Cody's strength was waning. She shouldn't have let this go on for so long. She pulled back, stopping work on the fragment they'd been focused upon. She felt Cody protest, but it wasn't a very strong protest. As she quickly assessed him, she could feel he was completely drained. Barriss kicked herself, for getting so caught up in the healing that she hadn't been monitoring Cody's fatigue levels adequately. She was not surprised he was willing to push himself completely past his limits. He was single-minded in his determination to get back to the 212th.

Barriss quickly withdraw from Cody's mind before they could have any further communication between them, breaking the link faster than she normally would. But, she was concerned about his dropping vitals. As soon as she released their mental bond, Cody's eyes rolled back in his head and an alarm started bleeping loudly and consistently on one of his monitors. She looked up, wide-eyed, immediately standing up. He was hooked up to multiple monitors. Which monitor was it that was going off?

She'd asked the doctors to explain all the monitors on her first day in Cody's room, but they'd done a very cursory, inadequate explanation. There were such power struggles going on between them concerning Cody's care. When she asked the doctors questions about Cody, she kept getting brushed aside. She was constantly told it was not "her area of concern." Yet, Cody was her only patient, assigned to her by the Council. How could he _not_ be her area of concern? Barriss couldn't understand how these doctors could be so thick-headed!

An Ithorian doctor came rushing in and quickly shut off the alarm. The doctor stared at Barriss accusingly, "What did _you_ do?"

Barriss sputtered, "No, I- I-"

"Never mind! Stand aside!"

Barriss took a step back, watching the doctor closely. She didn't recognize this doctor. She'd had run-ins with several of the doctors over the past two weeks, but none of them was an Ithorian. She steeled herself for having to go into a whole explanation about why she was there, once again. The doctor quickly called for medication, using his commlink. A medroid arrived shortly after with a hypo that the doctor injected into Cody's IV line. The doctor watched the monitors for a few minutes, and then nodded, satisfied. He grabbed Cody's medical chart and studied it, frowning. At least, Barriss thought he was frowning. It was very difficult to tell with Ithorians.

"Why were these patients' medications cut back?" the doctor asked, his tone conveying his displeasure.

"It was interfering with the healing process," Barriss explained.

"What 'healing process' are you referring to?" the doctor continued to look through the chart and then stared at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jedi Healer Barriss Offee and, I was specifically asked to be here to work with this patient."

"Your methods are dangerous and ineffective. I am going to suggest you be removed," the doctor said, spinning on his heel and leaving the room. Barriss stared after him, mouth agape.

She was absolutely fuming inside. How dare he treat her like that! She tried to reign in her emotions, knowing they were unbecoming of a Jedi.

"Wh... happened?" Cody slurred out, giving her a sleepy gaze.

"Cody!" Barriss anger was instantly forgotten. She leaned over the bed and looked into his face. "How are you?"

"'Fine... but....'m tired," his words were thick and heavy and his eyes were only half-open.

Barriss sighed and brushed back a piece of hair from his face. She'd never seen his hair this long. He normally always kept it so short and tightly cropped. "We overdid it on the healing. But, I did take full responsibility. I should have been monitoring you more closely-"

"S' not your fault. My idea to... go... so far," Cody blinked to stay awake.

"No, Cody, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I will be more careful next time."

"S'ok. No... harm done," Cody gave her a sleepy smile.

Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by the return of the Ithorian doctor. "He's awake already? Yes, his chart said he is drug-resistant. Yes, well, this just backs up what I'm about to do. He never should have had his dosages reduced. I just conferred with another doctor, and we agreed. As of right now, he is going to be put back on the paralytic drug, Immoblin 24-7. "

Cody's eyes widened in alarm.

The doctor reached up to inject a syringe into Cody's IV.

"No!" Cody shouted, startling both Barriss and the doctor. He struggled to move his hands in a vain effort to stop the doctor and did succeed in raising his wrists. Under different circumstances, she'd be elated at his progress. 

But, it was still too soon for him to be moving about. She braced both hands on the side of face. "Cody, hold still. You still have more fragments in your neck." She was so focused on Cody, she had no time to prevent the doctor from injecting the drug into the IV. His eyes met hers in a look of anguish before the paralyzing drug hit his system.

Barriss reared on the doctor, who was calmly making a note in Cody's chart. "This was not the way to handle the situation."

"On the contrast, _Jedi_ ," his disdain for her title was clear, "the commander's outburst proved I was correct. Your decision to cut back on his sedatives was misguided and foolhardy." He whipped out his datapad and typed several notes with angry, punching fingers. "I have documented all of this now in his chart. No doubt the rest of the staff will back me up. Changes will be made, starting with keeping this clone on Immobilin until we decide what to do with him."

"To what end?" Barriss asked, bitterly.

"What do you mean, to what end?" the doctor asked, "your methods are ineffective and dangerous. This morning, we called in an additional authority on clone physiology to advise on the ultimate outcome of this case. This little charade is about to come to an end."

"What did you do?" Barriss stared at the doctor aghast.

"Nala Se arrives from Kamino in the morning. She will determine the ultimate dispersal of this unit. The Jedi have overstepped their bounds in this matter."

Barriss stared at the doctor, shocked and speechless, staring at Cody. His eyes were half-open and half-closed, unable to either focus on her or close for sleep. It was an existence so miserable, she would not wish it on anyone.

After he left, she sat near Cody's bedside angry and shaking. A second doctor appeared, one she recognized as a high-level administrator.

"Jedi Offee, Dr. Spoke informed about the _incident_. We are resuming control of 2224's case and returning him to the general ward. Head back home and do whatever it is you Jedi do. Leave the doctoring work to us doctors. Now, go, collect your things. I will arrange a shuttle for you."  
  
He left the room and Barriss stared at his back, clenching her fists to prevent from doing something she would regret.

She tugged out her comlink and sent a priority message to her Master asking her to call as soon as possible. Barriss rarely asked for help. She only hoped her Master was somewhere in communications range.  
  
# # #

The doctor was true to his word. Cody was moved from the private room to the general ward within minutes. Barriss followed along, watching Cody's unnaturally still form.

This was not right. None of this was right.  
  
She was not allowed to stay in the general ward. She was ushered out by one of the doctors. She headed back to the small quarters she'd been assigned. She'd barely used the room, as she'd mainly been sleeping in a chair in Cody's room. But, it was a useful spot to store the few personal effects she'd brought along on the assignment and a place to use the sonic and fresher. She had no intention of heading back to Coruscant. Not until she spoke to her Master.

She sank down on her meditation mat and closed her eyes, willing herself to be calm.

_There is no emotion, there is only the Force._

She did not know how much time had passed when she was interrupted from her meditation by the chirping of her comm.

"Master! Barriss here. I'm sorry- for taking so long to respond," Barriss had learned from past experience that outright honesty worked best with her Master, "I was deep in meditation."

"You sound tired, my padawan. Is everything alright?" Barriss thought she could say the same of her Master. She could hear the fatigue in her Master's voice.

Barriss blew out a breath, "No, Master. It's not. I could use your guidance if you have the time."

"Yes, I have the time," her Master sounded pleased Barriss was asking for help. Barriss had been getting more and more independent lately. She couldn't remember the last time she'd asked her Master for help like this. But, well, she was asking for guidance now.

"Where are you, Master?" Barriss asked. "You're safe?"

"Yes, my padawan. Stop worrying," she could hear the amusement in her Master's tone, "We are following up on a lead to the far Outer Rim. am en route now with the commando team. Now, what is troubling you, my padawan?"

Barriss took another deep breath, and plunged right into it, telling her Master everything. She finished up her report and waited for her Master's reaction.

"You should head back home and do whatever it is you Jedi do?" her Master repeated. "These were his words?"

"Yes, Master, that was earlier today. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jedi Council gets a call from the medical center with a complaint about me, and how I am handling Commander Cody's case. They think I am dangerous and ineffective."

There was a pause, and then her Master said, "And, what do you think?"

Barriss closed her eyes for a moment. Here it was- the teaching moment. She thought about it. "Well, Master, I made a serious error in judgment when I allowed the healing session to go for too long. In doing so, I temporarily compromised the Commander's health."

"Yes," her Master acknowledged, "you said he lost consciousness after his healing session and required an intervention to restore him to consciousness. He was was awake again a few minutes later?"  
  
"Yes, he recovered quickly. I think he would have easily recovered fully if he had not been drugged by the doctors. I admit I made a mistake, but I do not think he was harmed."

"You appear to recognize all the errors you've made already. I see no reason to lecture you. Tell me more about how the healing went?"

"Oh, Master, I made more progress in that one session, than I did in the past two weeks of passive healing! More than that, Master, it was good for the Commander's morale. He has been very frustrated by his paralysis. Plus, he seems at a loss being separated from the men he normally commands. More than that, just being removed from his normal job duties for this long a time period seems to have affected his psyche. His inability to do anything to change these things resulted in a great deal of frustration. Well, that, and the ongoing communication issues with a lot of the doctors' here. How they get to be medical professionals with such terrible people skills is beyond me, Master. Anyway, being involved in his own healing was a positive step forward for the Commander, very likely because it was also an _active_ step. He's had so little activity with his paralysis," Barriss paused and took a deep breath, realizing she was talking uncharacteristically quickly. And, talking a lot more than she usually did. She wondered if her Master had noticed.

"You seem very passionate about this assignment, my padawan."

Oh, yes, she'd noticed.

Barriss just decided to plunge onward while she had her Master's full attention, "I feel I am making a difference here, which ultimately, is what being a Jedi is all about. You taught me that, Master. And, to suddenly rip that away, to just put the Commander back on Immobilin 24x7, and just throw him back in the General Ward- I fear, Master, it would kill him as surely as if we'd simply let those shell fragments into his brain. The only difference is the shell fragments offered a quick, painless death with much less prolonged emotional suffering than the existence they are offering him here. I don't want to leave, Master. I want to continue this assignment. I believe I can accomplish the objectives set out by the Council."

There was a long pause and her Master said, "I see." It was a very characteristic response of her Master, and also a most frustrating one. It told Barriss nothing of what her Master was thinking. Luminara looked over as one of the clones out of holo range called to her with an urgency in his tone. "I have to go, but stay the course. I will make some calls."  
  
# # #

Emboldened by the backing of her Master, and hopefully the Council, Barriss headed back down to the general ward. She could not find Cody. Anywhere. He was not where she'd seen him last and she quickly searched through bed after bed looking for the distinctive scarred-clone. Where was he? She found the Ithorian doctor, working in his office.

"What's happened to Commander Cody?"

"Who?" he asked, blinking at her as if they hadn't had multiple run-ins on this particular issue.

"Patient CC-2224. Yesterday, he was moved out of his private room and today he was moved to the general ward. Yet, I cannot find him." 

"You should not be here," the doctor frowned. He reached for his comlink.

_You do not want to call security._

Barriss did it without thinking.   
  
The Ithorian doctor withdrew his hand, looking confused for a moment. "What were we talking about?"  
  
"CC-2224. You were telling me his whereabouts?"  
  
He frowned, fiercely.  
  
_You want to tell me where he is._

"Oh, right, him." The doctor then pulled a datapad out of his pocket, doing so with agonizing slowness, and consulted the main database, "Clone Commander 2224. Ah, yes, the Kaminoan geneticist arrived early to evaluate his case. He's been taken to an examination room."

"Where?" Barriss demanded, her heart pounding. This was _not_ good.

The Ithorian doctor glanced down at his database again and then gave her a dismissive look, derisive even under some force persuasion. "It doesn't say."

He's lying. It was against the Jedi code to pull information from someone's mind with force. Or, the Force. But, it was also against the code to enslave men into an Army, yet the Jedi did it anyway. And, it was also against the code for Jedi to lead the same men to their deaths in a war, in the name of peace. And, yet they did. 

She felt no remorse for her actions.

She pressed against his mind. _Where is he?_

The Ithorian's eyes widened and his brow furrowed. He shook his head.

_Where is CC-2224?_

The Ithorian released the information with a gasp.  
  
"Treatment room 7909K."

_You will forget we ever had this conversation._

"I will forget we ever had this conversation," the Ithorian said, his brow still furrowed.

_You will rethink your opinion on the clones. They are men and their lives have worth. You will use your talents to great good in treating these men and become one of the greatest clone advocates Ord Cestus has ever seen._

She didn't wait to see if he absorbed the suggestion. Time was of the essence. Jedi could use mental suggestions but it could not change the core essence of a person. If there was a glimmer of decency in the doctor, he could possibly rethink his ways and in the end, it would seem to him it had been a natural evolution in his thinking.

 _I just nudged him along the proper path,_ Barriss thought, putting the incident out of her mind and focusing on finding her way to 7909K. The medical center was a maze and she lost her way twice trying to find the room. She finally pulled a clone medtech aside and asked him to escort her to the proper area. With a polite, gracious nod, he quickly escorted to the room she requested.

"Let me know if there is anything else you need, Commander," the medtech said, a tattoed clone known as Ink, moving to take his leave.

"Ink, wait," Barriss looked at the locked door, "I... don't have my passkey. I'm here on special assignment and don't know all the procedures yet."

Ink tilted his head to the side as if waging an internal debate between wanting to please this Jedi commander and breaking a procedural rule about how his key should be used. "Who's in there?" he asked quietly.

Barriss sighed. Clones were much too intuitive. All of them. "CC-2224. Commander Cody. I need help. _He_ needs help."

Ink nodded. "I heard he was injured. A terrible battle that incursion as Kaz'haria." He slipped her his keycard. "Here. I'll figure out a way to get another one. Good luck." He quickly slipped away.

Barriss' heart broke a little thinking of the awful risk he was taking. These men, all of them, were incredibly brave. They deserved so much better than the hand they'd been dealt. But, for now, she had to focus on one man and perhaps she could help his quest to save others. It would have to be enough, for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Barriss will not be murdering anyone and framing Ahsoka for it in this story. That whole storyline struck me as backstabbing and out-of-place. However, she's not wrong in what she said about the Jedi having lost their way. She was just completely wrong in the way she went about it and her murdering of both clones and betraying a friend did not ring true.
> 
> In the spirit of Barriss' getting darker, though, and angrier about the path the Jedi have chosen, the healer we see in this story is willing to break the code when it suits her purposes. The war has driven to adopt an attitude of "the ends justify the means." You see the beginnings of that journey in this chapter.


	51. Damn fool crusade

Barriss took a deep, bracing breath, slid the passkey over the door and entered the exam room.  
  
Her eyes swept the cold, clinical space, searching out Cody. He was undressed, on a bio-bed, in the center of the room, exposed under a harsh series of glaring lights. His neck brace was removed and his body was alarmingly still. For a heart-stopping moment, she feared she was too late. She reached with the Force and was reassured by the beat of his heart, although he was suffering bradycardia, no doubt from the effects of the Immoblin. His heart was beating too slowly, but at least he was still alive. She could still help him. He was still here and alive, even if he was held prisoner by the Immobilin.

A tall Kaminoan, with an old presence in the Force, stared at her with orb-like brown eyes. “What is the meaning of this?”

She chose her words carefully, reminding herself she would accomplish nothing if she lost her temper. “The care of Commander Cody has been entrusted to me by the Jedi Council.”

The Kaminoan's eyes narrowed and her nostril's flared. “Ah, it’s you. The _healer_. Your authority no longer applies," she gave a dismissive wave of one hand. "I am Nala Se. Lead geneticist for the Kaminoan cloning facility." She gave a decisive stab in Cody's direction. " _This_ clone is Kaminoan property.”  
  
She held her head high, speaking in the same way her Master taught her do when she was sure of her convictions. “He is not. He falls under the protection and the jurisdiction of the Jedi Council. They have given me leave to oversee his care.”

“ _All_ clones are Kaminoan property. You Jedi contracted for the clone army, but you are leasing them _under contract_ , a clause you _fail_ to understand time and again. As their creators, we have the ultimate authority over determining the dispensation of damaged units and you Jedi certainly damage your fair share of them.”

The words struck home. The number of clone casualties in the first 18 months of the war has been unconscionable. The Jedi were not natural tacticians and it was the clones who paid the price for their shortcomings. Barriss did not know fully understand the terms under which the clone army had been commissioned or created. She doubted any Jedi did. They had simply accepted the Army as a necessary means during their most desperate hour without asking enough questions. There was so much wrong here.

Nala Se pointed to Cody. “This unit is damaged beyond repair. I am taking a shipment back to Kamino tomorrow. He will be among them. He is of no more use."  
  
“No!” Barriss said, the words coming out louder and sharper than she’d intended. “You have no right-”

Nala Se towered over her, her eyes flared and angry, her voice a dangerous hiss. “As Chief Medical Scientist, I have _every_ right-”  
  
They were both interrupted by simultaneous chirps on their comlinks signaling a priority communique. Barriss glanced down at her wrist, keeping a wary eye on the Kaminoan scientist. 

Her eyes widened at the message from the Jedi Council. A huge sense of relief shuddered through her frame. “It appears _I_ do have the right. The Council has not only backed me up on this one, they have threatened to withhold further payments if you interfere any further.”  
  
"Ridiculous," Nala Se scoffed. "The Jedi cannot get by without their clone army. They wouldn't last a day."  
  
“Are you willing to risk for one clone?" Barriss temper had been spiked now and there was no tamping it back down. "Does your obsession with standards mean that much to you?” 

The scientist's eyes flared with anger and her whitish skin color took on deeper purplish tones. “This is not over. Control of the clones belongs to me.” She swept from the room in a majestic swirl of long skirts.   
  
Barriss nearly sagged with relief when she left. Darkness almost seemed to follow in her wake. She tugged a sheet over Cody's still form. "Alright, come on, let's get you out of here." She struggled with the bio-bed, using the Force to open the door, and maneuver it through. She looked up and down the long corridor and then glanced down at the message on her comm from the Council with a new housing assignment. "Great," she muttered, "now how I am going to find this place?"   
  
_I might be a powerful healer, but I'm not great with directions._  
  
She started down the corridor, anxiety already creeping up her spine. It would not do to get lost down here, pushing Cody's bio-bed and with the chief medical scientist still insistent on regaining control.  
  
"Commander, can I help you?" a clone slipped out of a side corridor, and matched her pace, walking next to her. She recognized his tattoos instantly.  
  
"Ink!" she said, relief sinking through her frame. "Yes, please," she showed him the new housing assignment on her comm, "can you show me how to this level?"  
  
He nodded and put his hands on the bio-bed to help push it along. They walked together silently, but she sensed in him a strong desire to do _something_. It was the same feeling she had growing inside of her, that overwhelming feeling to right wrongs within the system. "This is the place," he pointed down a long corridor, "I won't go any further, but 91044 is down on the end, on the left." He gave a small bow, and disappeared again, as silently as he'd first arrived.

# # #

Cody slowly woke up, his head thick and fuzzy the way it did when he’d been under the influence of too much medication. He groaned and tried to rub his eyes.  
  
Krek. His arms were still restrained. Memories started flooding back.

“Cody?”

He blinked hard to focus on the face above him.  
  
“Barriss,” he muttered, licking dry lips, “what happened?”

She dropped water into his mouth and moistened his lips. “A lot has happened.” She looked down. “You remember the healing session?”  
  
“Yes, but everything after that is a bit of a blur, though.”

“You had a temporary drop in your vitals. The doctors used it as justification to seize back control of your care. You were placed in the general ward and then moved again. When I finally found you, Nala Se was performing an exam on you.”  
  
Cody shuddered. “Ah, I do remember some glimpses of the exam. I was in and out of consciousness, but it was... unpleasant. I am starting to get some feeling back. To that extent, I almost wish I wasn't." The scientist had poked and prodded him everywhere without mercy, cold and clinical. Whereas Barriss had gone to lengths to make him feel he still had worth despite his terrible injury, the Kaminoan was out to prove he was no longer worthy.

Barriss looked down and said quietly. “She wanted to send you back to Kamino.”  
  
“That much I gathered. I didn't think I was going to make it out there. I passed out at some point." His eyes flickered around his new surroundings in confusion. “How do you get me out of there? Where am I?”  
  
Barriss reached out and gripped his hand. "The Council provided a last-minute reprieve, reiterating their authority."  
  
"And, that worked," Cody prompted, he could sense there was more to the story, but he was also a bit distracted by the feel of her hand on his own. He could definitely feel more again.  
  
“The Council is not perfect, by any means, Cody, but they are trying to right some of the wrongs they have done by the clone army," Barriss said. As she said the words, she realized her feelings toward the Council were mixed. It was true. They were an imperfect governing body and had made many mistakes during the war. But, they had come through on their promises to try to help. Their intentions were good, as always.   
  
"This place," Cody looked around again, "what is it? Where are we now?"

"The Council did not want any more interference while I complete my work. We’ve been moved to an apartment on the lower levels of the medical station. These facilities are normally used by medical staff. We've been assigned a doctor's quarters. If you need any emergency care or scans, it is just a lift ride away to the advanced facilities on the station. But, we will have less interference here."

Cody furrowed his brow, confused about the new arrangements. “I am to stay here?” He was still in a bio-bed, but the bed was located in what appeared to the common area of the living quarters. A couch had been pushed aside to make room for the bed, and directly ahead, he could make out a small galley-style kitchen.  
  
“Both of us,” Barriss confirmed, “until you are healed.” She pointed to a door, off of the kitchen. “That is my room."  
  
Cody’s brow furrowed as he took it all in. “So, I am _not_ going to be sent to Kamino. You will be continuing on as my healer, and I am being allowed more time to recover?”  
  
Barriss’ nodded. “Are you pleased?”  
  
Cody smiled and the expression lit up his face, warm and genuine. “Yes, very much. Thank you, Barriss.”  
  
Barriss throat hitched in her throat, whether it was from the way he said her name, or the warmth of his smile, she could not say. She pushed the feelings aside. It would not do to get attached. “Since you are awake, let us start your next healing session.”  
  
“Yes,” Cody immediately agreed, “there is no time to waste.”

# # #

They were able to do another two treatment sessions that day and it was much easier without interruptions. The sessions were exhausting for both of them. Cody fell asleep immediately after and Barriss always needed to meditate to regain her strength.

Cody was still sleeping now. Barriss used the time to arrange to have food delivered to the apartment on a regular basis. She ordered prepared meals for herself and a wide assortment of fruits, vegetables, nuts and lentils to blend into the nutrient shakes for Cody. The food she ordered arrived within the hour. Whatever the Council had done to throw its weight around with the management of the station, it had worked. Barriss had gotten a reprieve to continue her work, at least for now.

# # #

After their first session the next morning, Cody felt well enough to stay awake and didn’t need to rest afterward.  
  
“You’re getting stronger,” Barriss commented.  
  
“I am,” Cody confirmed, “can you remove these restraints?” He looked down at the padded black wrist and ankle bindings distastefully.   
  
She shot him a sympathetic look. “No, it’s still too dangerous. Too much movement could endanger your final recovery.”  
  
“It’s frustrating, being tied up like this,” Cody said. “I understand what you’re saying, but I still don’t like it.”  
  
She pulled out her datapad. "These are your latest scans. The fragments are reducing in size, but there are still too many of them. You're starting to regain feeling, which is good, but you're also at a dangerous place in your recovery. If your muscles jerk too hard in spasm, the fragments will shift."  
  
Cody sighed. "Alright, but I still don't like it."  
  
"I wouldn't either," Barriss said, sympathetically. She decided to try a different tact and take his mind off of it. "Since you're awake, let's get started on another session."  
  
"Yes," Cody brightened up immediately. He was the ideal patient in that regard, completely focused on his treatment and the end goal of healing as quickly as possible.

# # #

The next few days passed quickly. The healing sessions left him tired. But, it was a good kind of tired. He knew they were making steady progress. Besides, since he couldn't move, eat, or sit-up, he didn't have much else to do other than the healing sessions and sleeping. He did enjoy the conversations he had during and in-between the sessions with Barriss. Despite her severe appearance, he discovered the Jedi healer had a good sense of humor. He toned down the usual humor he used with his closest vode, but discovered it was still easy to make her laugh. And, he did enjoy the sound of her laughter. It was one of the few things he could look forward to each day.  
  
He'd grown so accustomed to her constant presence, it was jarring to discover her gone one morning. He awoke after one of their healing sessions to discover he was alone in the apartment. He knew without even calling out to her that she wasn’t there. He could _feel_ she’d left. Shabla Force bond. It bothered him more than he cared to admit to be alone. He was vulnerable and he didn't like the feeling. When Barriss was around, he could almost forget he was paralyzed. She always gave him hope and something more. Although, he couldn't quite decipher what that more was all about. His anxiety levels started peaking as he worried about where she could have gone. What if something happened to her? Would he just be forgotten here? Abandoned until he starved? He was in a full-on panic by the time the apartment door swished open again.  
  
He almost passed out from the sheer terror of it when Barriss appeared again. He was about to light into her for leaving him, something he knew he would regret later, but he instantly forgot his words.  
  
“He’s right there- in the living room,” Barriss said, supporting a brother dressed in the typical blue garb of a med center patient. 

"Trapper!" Cody called out in surprise, drinking in the sight of his brother. Trapper's clean-shaven head had grown into an almost standard Jango cut and the small tat in the middle of his scalp was barely visible, but it was definitely him.

"Cody!" Trapper broke out into a wide grin, he looked like he wanted to hug Cody, but wasn't sure if it was OK. He looked at Cody's restraints and neck brace warily and then gave a questioning look to Barriss.  
  
To her credit, she understood immediately.

"It's alright,” Barriss said, "you can touch him. Be mindful of his neck.”  
  
Barriss let go of Trapper and he leaned down and every so gently wrapped Cody in a light brotherly embrace. 

“It’s good to see you, vod,” Trap whispered.  
  
“You, too, Trap, it’s been a farkin’ crazy few weeks,” Cody muttered into his neck.

Trapper straightened back up and Barriss looped her arm around him to support him again. Cody studied him. Trapper's arm was encased in a cast from shoulder to wrist and thumb, and the rest of his fingers were individually splinted. He was favoring one leg as the other was heavily bandaged and his face showed signs of recent burns and fresh scarring. His left eye was still covered with a patch.

"I'm a sight, huh?" Trapper said, noticing Cody's scrutiny. 

“That minefield got the better of the both of us. Have a seat, Trap."

Barriss guided Trapper into a chair next to the bed. Trapper studied Cody critically, and then looked around at all the monitors and tubed hooked up to him. "When I heard you were badly injured, I feared the worst. I thought I’d never see you again.”

“It almost happened. If not for the commander, I would’ve been on a transport.”  
  
Barriss flushed. “I only did what was right.”  
  
“You did a great deal,” Cody said, “not many people stick up for us clones like that.”  
  
“Thank you, Commander,” Trapper said, giving Barriss such a look of gratitude she realized she was willing to do just about anything at this point to help these clones.

“So,” Cody’s tone changed, obviously trying to lighten the mood a little, “while it may not look like it, I am on the mend. I plan on being back on duty soon, and tracking down the rest of our unit."

"Yeah?" Trapper said, leaning forward, his interest obviously piqued, "I'd like to be a part of that. Do you have any leads? I haven't heard anything since I've been here."

Cody's face fell, "No, Trapper, I haven't had any news. To be honest, you're the first person from the 212th I've seen since arriving here."

Trapper's face fell, too.

"Yeah, me, too," Trapper said, glumly, "I haven't seen anyone from the 501st or 212th. I don't know any of the other guys who are in the ward with me. They're all Marines and engineers and stuff. One of them said he sees some 501st guys in physical therapy.” He bit his lip, as if unsure about whether to continue.

"What?" Cody asked.

"He talks down about all of them. I mean, he’s not wrong in some of what he says. But, he mouths off about them all the time. Says they all have serious anger issues, you know first from losing their Captain, and then from everything that happened at Kaz’haria.”

Cody looked thoughtful. “I wonder if we can figure out a way who they are, and find our brothers from the 212th.”

“I have that information,” Barriss interjected.

“What?!” Trapper and Cody said in unison.

She pulled out her datapad and called up the list, holding the datapad up at an angle so Trapper and Cody could view it at the same time. “I requested it yesterday. It had to go through the Council, again, before I was granted access to the information. But, it finally came through this morning. It was how I knew Trapper was also here," she pointed to Trapper's name on the list.

"Look, Crys is here, and Hawkeye and Gearshift,” Trapper pointed out several names on the list.

Cody squinted at the list, "Boil! Well, I've never seen him without-"

Trapper pointed further down the list "Waxer!"

Cody rolled his eyes, "Well, now the place is in trouble. Both Waxer and Boil!"

Trapper was still reading down the list, "Hey, Codes, Wooley's here, too!"

Cody remembered there had been others on the shuttle with him when he'd arrived at the medical station, but he'd been so sick when he'd arrived he hadn't even thought to inquire whether other wounded from his battalion had ended up here. He was kicking himself for overlooking something so obvious. He looked up at Barriss and smiled gratefully.

Trapper gave Cody’s living space a speculative look. "Since you've got your own place, maybe get the boys together over here. Maybe see if we can get those 501st guys, too.”  
  
Cody looked over at Barriss with a pleading look in his eyes. "Cody, I can't make any promises. I snuck Trapper out of his ward!"

Trapper laughed, "She did, too. Still don’t know how she did. Walked out right under the noises of the doctors. They all conveniently looked the other way. Strangest thing.”  
  
“Did you do some Jedi thing?” Cody asked, his voice more admiring than accusing.  
  
“Jedi are not to behave in such a manner,” Barriss said primly.  
  
Cody looked over at Trapper. “That wasn’t a no.” He gave her another one of those smiles that gave her an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, "Well, thank you, Commander. This is much appreciated."

Trapper looked back and forth between the two of them, just watching this whole exchange.

Cody turned his attention back to Trapper, "What do you know about what happened on Kaz'hariah?"

Trapper’s expression tightened. "Probably the same as you. The whole thing was a trap and only those of who were evacuated early ended up getting out of there. Very few brothers came back from Kaz'haria.” He pushed out a long breath. “It’s been a big topic of conversation in the ward, you know, with the two Legions missing and all. But, there are stories circulating about Generals Skywalker and Kenobi and Commander Tano. The last troopers who made it out said they saw the Jedi putting up a hell of a fight.”He shook his head, and his voice dropped down. "Some of the brothers, they think that they are being used as human shields someplace. I mean, why else would they take them? Separatists don't normally even bother to take prisoners. So, these Kaz'harians are different somehow." He sighed, and scratched at his cast, frowning, "So, well, we just need to figure out where they are keeping them and go get them, right?"

Cody smiled at Trapper's enthusiasm, but all three of them knew that there was nothing at all simple about what he was saying. If there was, the Jedi Master/Commando Teams would have found them already.

Cody looked at Trapper, at his casted arm, changing the subject for the moment. "So, Trap, how are _you_?"

Trapper laughed, and held up his arm, then groaned from even that simple movement, "My arm is totally _shattered,_ every bone in it. That minefield did a number on it. They said I'm lucky I even still have it. They were this close to just taking it off. It will heal, but it will be a while before I can use it again. Messed my leg up good, too and look what happened to my pretty face.” He made a dramatic show of pointing to his scarred face. “We were supposed to go straight across the lowlands, where the majority of the minefields were. But, we didn’t and that’s probably the only thing that saved us. They were trying to wipe out the frontal assault troops so they could swoop in and take the forces behind them.” He cast a curious look at Cody. “Why did you change course at the last minute?”

"Kenobi," Cody answered, feeling a huge pang in his gut as he felt the sorrow anew of his missing General. "All the credit goes to Kenobi. He sensed something."

Trapper nodded sagely, "I should have known. The General."

Both of them were silent, heads bowed, respectfully.

Trapper looked up and put his hand on top of Cody's bound hand, "We're going to get him back, Codes. You, me, Waxer, Boil, Crys, Hawkeye, Gearshift, Ponds, all of us. The 212th might be down, but we're not out. We're going to get our General back."

"Damn straight," Cody said, meeting Trapper's eyes.

"Now, hold on a minute," Barriss protested, "just what are you guys planning here? No. No. And, no! You don't know what this place is like. I practically got shut down just for trying to change your medications, Commander. And, now you guys are thinking of some sort of Commando mission?"

Cody and Trapper smirked back and forth at each other.

Barriss shook her head, "One step at a time, Commander. Let's work on regaining some movement first, OK?"

"Fair enough," Cody said, and his voice regained its command quality. It was something Barriss hadn’t heard from him since he’d been injured. "But, I am getting the General back."

There was a finality in his tone. His eyes met Barriss' and she saw the old spark there that she'd seen when she'd first met him at the beginning of the war.

She took a deep breath, and placed her hand on top of Trapper's and Cody's, "I'm sure I will live to regret this. But, if they have not located the missing clones and Jedi by the time you have completed your therapy and are fully mobile again… ” Barriss took a deep breath, feeling like she was sealing her doom, "then, I will join you on this mad, fool crusade of yours to find the 212th and 501st.”  
  
# # #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nala Se makes the most delightful villian. She is both evil and not evil at the same time, kind of like Maul. She is one of those villains you love to hate. With Maul, he's just so tragic and tortured. With Nala Se, she is so obsessed with perfection, she has lost sight of the face she is in the business of creating living beings.
> 
> Read her biography here: Biography of Nala Se. https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Nala_Se
> 
> In my headcanon, Trapper is one of my Cody's closest friends in the 212th. It is difficult for a marshall commander to have close friends due to his high rank, but Trapper isn't much concerned about matters of rank. He sees Cody as a brother. 
> 
> I couldn't find any images of Trapper without a helmet, so I came up with my own description of what he looks like under the bucket. I only describe one of his tattoos here, but I see him as having another one somewhere, too, the 212th Attack Battalion logo. It's hidden under his blacks. You can use your imagination and decide where you want that tattoo to be.


	52. New life comes to Ando

"I'm sorry again, Commander," Appo said, as he knelt by Ahsoka's side, and carefully studied the mechanism binding the Force collar together. He tapped the mechanism tentatively, with his gloved finger, checking for deterrents to just what he was doing now.

"It's OK, Commander," Ahsoka said, giving him a tired, but hopefully, encouraging smile. She held still, a bit nervous about tampering with the Force collar. "I hadn't meant to startle you like that."

"To be fair, Commander, I think I startled _you_ ," his lips twisted up with a bit of humor as he said it, which was a good sign he'd gotten over the incident.

"It's going to get awkward calling each other 'Commander' if we're to be locked in the same cell together. While we're here, you can drop the formalities. I am just Ahsoka."

Appo looked uncomfortable at that idea. He looked around their darkened cell, and then looked at either side of their cell, where General Skywalker and General Kenobi were being held. "Uh, Commander, I'm not so sure about that."

Ahsoka sighed, patiently, "Alright, the offer stands."

Appo examined the collar in the poor lighting, sweat drops beading on his brow. He swiped at it again, then blew out a breath, "I understand now how the mechanism works, although it may be difficut to force it open without a microprobe or a hexdriver." One hand automatically went down to his hips where his utility belt usually sat, but he'd been stripped of the item before he'd been thrown in the cell. Sweat was beaded up on his brow and dripping down the back of his neck.

"Why don't we take a break?" Ahsoka suggested.

Appo nodded, and sat back, taking a deep breath.

"How are you feeling?" Ahsoka said asked quietly, wishing for the hundredth time she could simply reach out with the Force and get a gauge of the others around her, "you look like you're burning up."

"I have been alternating between feeling hot and chills," he admitted, and then jerked his chin toward the untreated blast wound on his shoulder, "it's probably from this… it feels worse than the others." He glanced down at his assorted other injuries, scorching his armor, "the rest don't feel as bad as this one."

"You could have an infected wound," Ahsoka thought back to her Temple training and what she'd learned on the battlefield from the 501st medics. She constantly wished she knew more as the knowledge could save lives. Since Rex had... she didn't finish the thought. She'd tried to make some sense of Rex's death by spending more time reading up on clone physiology. She hadn't been able to share the one clone she'd care about the most. She made a vow to herself to save as many of his brothers as possible. The effort helped dig her out of the dark hole of depression she'd spiraled into after Rex's death. She focused now on Appo, determined to help him. "Could you remove your armor so I could see your wound?"

"Yes, Commander," but his voice lacked any enthusiasm and any movement pained him. Their captors had removed any portions of his armor they considered a weapon such as his gauntlets, helmet, utility belt and even his boots. But, his blaster burnt armor and lower pieces were still on his frame. Appo reached up tiredly to unhook his shoulder bell from his undersuit. He hissed through gritted teeth as he pried apart his undersuit, pulling it away from the burnt skin. "Alright." he said, his breathing uneven, and his complexion ashen. He glanced at the wound and then looked away. "I don't think there's anything you can do."

Ahsoka crept forward, this time very careful not to bump Appo with her Force collar. She studied the wound for a long time. The wound had gone down to the hypodermis, burning through the connective tissue around the shoulder. The area around the burn was blistered, swollen and angry, with red streaks leading away from the wound. She'd rarely seen blaster wounds get this bad as they were always treated promptly by the medics.   
  
Ahsoka bit her lip. "OK, at least we know what's causing your fever."  
  
Appo read something in her expression, interpreting it as resignation. "Your hands are bound. There is little you can do." He reached for his bodysuit to start clasping the hook and latch material back together.

"Wait," Ahsoka's voice stayed his motion, "there might be one thing."

Appo stilled his movements and looked at her curiously.

"I was able to help Rex on the last mission we were together," Ahsoka's voice hitched at the mention of Rex's name. She had to pause a moment before she could go on. Appo waited patiently. "Anyway, uh, Rex had an infection from a serious blast wound, and we couldn't get medical care right away. So, I was able to do some, uh, Force healing to get his fever down."

"Force healing," Appo sounded wary, but interested. "Yes, but sir, not to point out the obvious, you have a Force collar on."  
  
Ahsoka pushed out a resigned sigh. Her Master was right. She was getting used to the feel of it and had almost forgotten for the moment. "Right, well, we'll solve one problem at a time then, won't we?" 

"As you say, sir." He hooked his bodysuit back together but didn't have the energy yet to replace his armor. He leaned wearily back against the bars of their cell and his eyes drifted shut. 

Ahsoka chewed her lip. Yes, they were going to get out of here. She'd made a promise to watch over Rex's men. It was all she had left of him. They were going to get out of here. She didn't need the Force to tell her that much. She refused to believe any other outcome.

# # #

"Thank you for helping transport the men," Rex said to Rosetta, as they rode together out to the crash site along with Mako who came along for a medical assist.

"The pleasure is mine," Rosetta said. "I normally use this large speeder for working 'round the ranch. I'm glad I can put it to even better use today. You said you have some of those boys of yours are in bio-beds?"

"Yes, all of the men you'll meet at the ship have some sort of battle injury. Some are more visible than others. Our brothers in the bio-beds are some of the most severely injured amongst us."

Rosetta looked over at him, noticing the protective tone the Captain took when he spoke of his brothers. She chose her words carefully when she replied. "I don't know how you and Karyn are deciding upon where these men will be staying while they are in town, but I have plenty of room at my ranch. I would welcome some company."  
  
Rex was quiet, then, and let Mako take over the conversation. He was only half-listening as the newly appointed second-class medic grilled Rosetta endlessly with questions about her ranch. He was already thinking ahead to the logistics of who might be willing to take in the men in the bio-beds. They needed a higher level of care than his other brothers, most of whom proved adaptable even with their injuries. Their performance during the two battles against the pirates had proven as much. Sink, Saby, Tag, Razor and Catcher all still had gifts to share as clones but he didn't know if others would see them with the same eyes. Catcher had already been transported to town, but they still should likely move his bed as he may be needing it again. The ARC Captain had a stubborn streak to him, but it couldn't change the reality he was paralyzed from the waist down.

He nodded, lost in thought, as he worked with Mako and Rosetta to secure the beds, wondering if her offer to take men in could possibly extend to the brothers in the bio-beds. They could only transport one bio-bed at a time in the large covered bed of her speeder, but it was a short journey to town and they made quick work of it. As it turned out, Rosetta made the offer herself after meeting Sink, Saby, Tag and Razor. She joked with Saby as she secured him into the back of the speeder and securely tucked several extra blankets around Sink to ensure he was warm enough before they made the journey back to town. Razor drew her into a deep conversation about the type of speeder she owned, questioning her on the specs and immediately suggesting performance upgrades . Tag pestered her with relentless questions about her ranch.  
  
Roseanne burst out laughing and looked at Rex with warmth and happiness in her eyes. "I think it's settled, then. Until other arrangements are made, these boys can stay with me." She gave him a mischievous smile, "although, between you and me, there may be others fighting for the right to take them in. I may be hard-pressed to keep them at my place. I have a feeling Killtric would love having someone with a scientific mind like Razor's over at his place. He thinks just like that himself." She turned her gaze on Mako. "And, you, young man, you'd be a most welcome addition at my place, and I think eopies would love you, but I see you as the perfect fit for my neighbors Olan and Ciri."  
  
Mako's brow furrowed. "Eopies?" He was more fascinated by the mention of the shaggy herd animals than the fact Roseanne was working out temporary quartering arrangements for him. "There are eopies here? How do they ever survive in this climate?"

Roseanne laughed. "They are certainly not native to this moon. They were brought here by the original settlers, our forefathers. Somehow they adapted to the climate. The ones who live here have very shaggy coats, unlike the ones who live in warmer climates. They do well here, though. Olan and Ciri have a large of eopie on their ranch."  
  
Mako was entranced by the topic and immediately started asking about the logistics of riding an eopie. "What's their top speed?"  
  
Rex shook his head, thinking this would not end well. He let Mako continue on with his questioning before he broke in.  
  
He had questions about the eopie, as well, though. "Rosetta, I scanned the tributary and there were no signs of life. I don't understand the bio-diversity on this planet."  
  
Rosetta shook her head sadly. "It happened with the war. There was so much fall out after the fighting and the bombs. It poisoned much of the waters and killed off most of the fish. The larger ones survived. Many of the land-dwelling species were affected, as well. Not the eopie, though. They're not native here to start with and they were able to adapt and survive."  
  
 _Adapt and survive_ , Rex mused. _Sounds like us._

An hour later, after all of the bio-beds had been moved to the clinic and Karyn was checking over all of the men. Rosetta decided to stay at the clinic and help with the men in the bio-beds, while Rex headed back out to the crash site with other volunteers with speeders to transport more men back to town. Within another two hours, all the men and supplies that needed to be moved to town had been transported over, except for Travis and a small squad of about twenty able-bodied, mostly deaf clones he'd recruited. They'd been working together to strip the ship of any usable materials to use on the pirate cruiser.

"Come on, Travis, that's it, you and this group are the last of them. Load up and let's shut this place down."

Travis shook his head. "No. I've been talking with the boys. We decided we could use a bit of fresh air. It's only about 12 klicks. You go on. We'll see you in a bit." He tossed his pack into Rex's speeder and adjusted his rifle on his back.

Rex sighed, torn between wanting to go with him and thinking he should talk him out of it. But, Rex had done the route now on the speeder at least a dozen now back and forth. The route was safe and it would be good for morale. "Alright, I'll see you soon." 

Travis signaled to his squad and they took off at a comfortable trot headed toward town.

# # #

Karyn came up behind Rex, where he was seated at her kitchen table and handed him a cup of root-caf. "Here, you look like you could use this."

"Thanks," Rex said, accepting the cup. He frowned down at his datapad. "Figuring out the quartering logistics for all of the clones is... complex. This is a new arrangement for us. We've always stayed in GAR barracks."

Karyn nodded and sank down in the chair across from him. "I assume you know your men. I know the townspeople. Let's figure this out together." She looked thoughtful. "Since you may be for a bit, while you repair your ship, why don't we try a different approach? Since we have plenty of volunteers in town willing to take in your men, why don't we let the townspeople and your men meet, and if they get along that could be a good host family for them."

Rex's brow furrowed. "What sort of meeting? Not all of my men have arrived yet. Travis is still heading in with a squad of troopers. They opted to _jog_ in."

This definitely piqued Karyn's interest. She was caught speechless for the moment before she recovered and continued. "Our largest gathering place in town is Fisherman's Hall. We could ask the people of Ando to gather there tonight. Everyone is curious about you. We've had no shortage of interest in people asking if they could help. I'll suggest everyone bring some food. This way, everyone can enjoy evening meal together and we'll sort out the housing situation."

Rex appreciated Karyn's straight-forward approach to solving problems. He gave a gracious nod of his head. "Yes, that will work. How can we help?"

# # #

Rex checked in with Travis twice as he headed toward town with his squad. They were making excellent time. He wished he could have gone with them. He was so tired of having a bad leg and not being able to walk properly. He knew he was fortunate compared to the men in the bio-beds, but it still didn't ease his restless frustration. He wanted to do so much more. Rex gave Travis a comm signal to lock onto and met him in front of Karyn's house. She walked out with him, taking a break from checking on her full clinic full of patients. Several of the women who'd volunteered to help in the clinic walked out with her.  
  
He heard Travis coming down the street even before he saw him. The men were in high spirits and someone in the front of the group was singing. The men jogged in crisp military precision, their armor clacking gently as they came down the hard-snow packed street. Women came out of their shops and houses along the street to watch them pass in open-mouthed amazement. Rex had to admit they made an impressive sight.

Travis put up his hand and brought the group of men to a halt and called them to attention. Noticing Karyn behind Rex, Travis saluted Rex crisply.   
  
Rex rolled his eyes behind his helmet.   
  
_Krek, Travis, this again?_

But, he decided to cut his brother some slack and crisply returned the salute. "Well done, Lieutenant. You can dismiss your men."   
  
Travis dismissed them both verbally and with hand signals, and then slid off his bucket.

"Have a good trip in?" Rex asked Travis, facing his brother fully so he could easily read his lips.

"Outstanding," Travis said, after he finished getting some water. "Love the countryside here. A man could grow to like this place." He caught Karyn's gaze and smiled.

Rex wanted to bury his face in the snow. But, he ignored his brother's painfully awkward attempts at flirtation.

"Yes, we made the run in less than two hours," Travis said, making a show of stretching out his muscles a bit as he spoke to Rex, casting furtive glances toward Karyn. "But," he shot a look back toward the others, and then said, "yes, well, we took it _easy_ since these lazy grunts have mostly been sitting around for weeks now and, of course, I didn't want to push them too hard. Of course, if I was by myself I would have done it in 90 minutes."

Another trooper nearby, also in Galactic Marine armor, shot Travis an incredulous look and told him in sign language he was full of bantha shit.

Travis laughed and signed back a crude joke implying some clones were just better genetic material than others.

This resulted in a flurry of good-natured insults hurled back and forth between the two Marines.

Karyn crinkled her brow in confusion and muttered. "I better master sign language."

Rex leaned in. "It's clone sign language. It's a bit different. And, you probably don't want to know half of what they're saying."

He gestured to Travis. "Come on, inside. We have much to discuss. There is going to be a gathering tonight at a place called the Fisherman's Hall. A welcome dinner for us clones."

Travis perked up with interest. "Like a party?"

All the clones who'd been paying attention to the conversation perked up and those who'd missed it quickly caught up through sign language.

"Again, more like a dinner," Rex tempered expectations, "and I will need a crew to help the locals set up tables and chairs and see if it's possible to make special arrangements to accommodate the bio-beds so they can join in this event, as well. I don't want to leave any of our men out if we are going to gather."

"Logistics, that's my specialty," Travis broke into a wide grin. "Lead the way to this Fisherman's Hall." He looked back toward his squad and both spoke and signed to them asking if they wanted to help. "There will be food later on," he promised. The entire squad signed on to help. He grinned at Karyn. "Point the way. And," he gave her an especially warm look, "you know, I'm happy to teach you some sign language."  
  
Rex groaned inwardly wondering what made him think integrating his men with civilians would be a good idea.

# # #


	53. Settling into Ando

Rex made his rounds, checking on the men in the clinic. Lance worked side-by-side with Karyn, trailed by Mako, who listened to every medical diagnosis and watched every treatment with the same precision he'd used to defuse bombs. The clinic space was large, but it was filled to overflowing at the moment. Some troopers were waiting to be seen in Karyn's kitchen, drinking rootcaf and eating some simple snacks brought by the townspeople. Other troopers were waiting out on the front porch, dozing in the sun on worn chairs, blasters sitting on their laps. There was something comforting in all of it. The clinic had the comforting hum of a well-run medbay.

He headed back out to go check on Travis.

"Hold up, Captain," Karyn said, flagging him down, "are you headed to Fisherman's Hall?"

"Yes, ma'am."  
  
She grimaced at the polite honorific, but let it go. "I'll go with you." She gestured to his injured leg. "We'll take the speeder."

Rex didn't argue. His shoulders and arms ached from the constant strain of supporting his upper body weight. His blast-injured shoulder still throbbed and he was glad to give it a short reprieve. As they headed over in the speeder, Karyn said to him. "I found something interesting in the storeroom as I was hauling out supplies. I need to get a good look at your knee, do a complete exam of the patella, but this could help you. I’ll need to see the extent of the trauma first."

He'd been seen multiple times at ArmyMed and declared a hopeless case. 

Rex shook his head. "There is nothing that can be done."

  
"I won't accept that conclusion until I've done my own examination."

They arrived at the large meeting hall, cutting off any further conversation on the topic.

Karyn immediately headed off to meet with several of the women from Ando who were already working in the kitchen on food prep, and Rex went in search of Travis. He was directing his squad like a drill sergeant, efficiently coordinating the movements of tables and chairs all around the hall.  
  
Several townspeople, all women, had volunteered to help alongside Travis' volunteer crew. They were all following his words and hand signals as he coordinated the logistics, occasionally consulting his datapad, before making more adjustments to the floorplan.

"Alight, take a break," Travis said to his crew, signing out the mesage, as well.

"How are the rest of the men doing?" Travis asked Rex, over his HUD.

"Excellent. The clinic is packed with everyone receiving medical checks, but Lance and Mako are there and Karyn recruited a number of volunteers from the town to help. It's running very smoothly. She took a break to come over here with me."

"So, she's here, then?" Travis immediately perked up with interest at the mention of the town doctor.

Rex immediately regretted bringing it up. "Yes." He looked around at the tables and chairs set up throughout the hall. "This looks good."

Travis held up his datapad to show Rex the seating arrangement. "Assuming every resident of the town shows up for this dinner, we have enough seating for all of them. Apparently, this hall was built before the war so there is more than enough seating in here and plenty of spare furniture in back. I also made accommodations so we could bring the bio-beds in, if the men are feeling up to it. They would go on the outer edges here, to make it logistically easier to move them in and out. They can leave early if they tire. I think we should do the same for any of our more seriously wounded who may want to attend for a short while, but give them the option of tapping out early." 

"Looks good," Rex nodded his approval. "There's a woman here, a rancher, who has offered to take in the men in the bio-beds. All of them. Although, she says there are likely other people in town wanting to act as hosts."

"This rancher is aware these men are paralyzed?"

"Fully aware. She helped transport them back to town."

Travis shook his head. "These people are unlike any other civvies I've met."

Rex nodded his agreement. "I agree." He moved on to other business. "I'll touch base again with Hok and see if he's well enough to come tonight. I'm sure his brothers would love to see him."

"How's he doing?"

"Chewed up. Can barely move. But, seemed oddly content."

"Odd."

"Not when you meet the woman who pulled him out of the sea."

Travis snorted with laughter. "So... she's quite the looker, then?"

"Krek, Travis, I don't notice these things."

"Yes, you do. Admit it. I know for a fact you have as much Jango's blood in you as the rest of us. And, Jango's blood ran hot at times."

"I'm not having this discussion with you."

"What?" Travis asked innocently. "The Kaminoans left us intact so we'd be better fighters. But, we rarely get to take advantage of that fact because we're always kept separate from the civvies."

"For good reason. All of this is very _distracting_."  
  
"Oh, I don't know. I like _distractions_."

Rex smacked him in the shin with one of his crutches. "Focus, Travis."  
  
"Relax, vod. I'm multi-tasking. We should be done here within the hour. Personally, I'm looking forward to this dinner." He gestured back to the group of deaf clones who'd jogged in with him from the crash site. "I think they are, too."

Whatever initial shyness the men had about meeting the townspeople was gone. Perhaps it was working together setting up the tables, or maybe it was Travis' influence, but the men now were all buckets off, talking and laughing with the women around them.

Rex shook his head. This was all so new and different he found it .... unsettling.  
  
It was the same feeling he'd had when he'd met Cut Lawquaine and seen him talking and laughing with his wife, Suu, and their children. Clones didn't have wives or families. But, as the war dragged on, Rex thought of Cut time and again, and started to think Cut had it right all along. Maybe there was more to life than fighting and dying. More bothered by all of it than he cared to admit, Rex nodded to Travis to carry on, muttered something to his brother about telling Karyn he'd find his own way back to the clinic and quickly exited the hall.

He moved as quickly as his arms and good leg could take him, aware his burnt shoulder was burning. He ignored it. He didn't stop until he'd made his way back to the tributary and the stone bench he'd found that morning. He sank down into it, removed his bucket and let the cool air wash over his features.

This was a good place. A safe place. He could sense it. The men were already starting to enjoy themselves here.

But, Rex couldn't push away the unease and restlessness in his soul. He didn't belong here. These men accepted him and wanted him to lead them. But, his place would always be with the 501st.

 _The Republic sent you away_.

He waged an inner battle with himself, wanting so desperately to be back but knowing at the same time the door had been closed for him. He'd been decommissioned and stripped of his title of Captain and his place in the GAR. He was no longer 501st. He wasn't anything, really. Everything that had ever meant anything to him was gone.

He stared at the fast-moving river, the one which was dead of life. It was appropriate, somehow, an analogy for his life which had been swept away. His command. His brothers in the 501st. Ahsoka. Krek, especially Ahsoka.

He sucked in another deep breath, knowing he did not have time for these thoughts. Picking up his crutches, he left his dark thoughts behind and made another round to check on the men.

# # #

More of the men had completed their medical exams over at the clinic and were wandering their way over to Fisherman's Hall. They were all excited about the possibility of a large gathering and food that was not rations.

Rex checked in with Hok and arranged for the injured scout to be transported over to the event.

There were only a few men too injured to not attend the evening event, including Torch, who had still not regained consciousness. Lance volunteered to stay with him, admitting the idea of a civilian gathering was outside his comfort zone.

"Fair enough," Rex said, "if you change your mind, contact me. I'll send someone to relieve you."

Rex made his way back over to Fisherman's Hall. The room had transformed from the last time he'd seen it. Travis and his volunteers had done an excellent job, managing to maximize the space, yet still, have the hall look orderly and efficient. The chairs and tables were in neat rows, like soldiers lined up to battle, and even the plasticine tableware had a look of crisp precision. 

Karyn was in the back of the hall talking with Travis. She waved Rex over and beamed at him. "Do you see this?" she looked out at row after row of orderly perfection. "It's perfect. If you men ever decide to give up a life in the military, you'd do well in the hospitality business."

Travis who had his bucket off, laughed, his eyes sparkling, and grinned at the town doctor.  
  
Rex shook his head. Give up a life in the military? The statement was ridiculous. And, hit too close to home at the same time. They'd been ousted from the GAR. They would have to find new purpose. But, all they'd ever known was life as soldiers.

"Captain," Karyn asked, "can you spare your men for a while longer? We could use some help in the kitchen."

Travis gave him a subtle hand signal. _Say yes._

Rex rolled his eyes behind his bucket. Krek. I did it again. That's going to become a permanent habit now. Spending time around Travis was going to turn Rex into another Wolffe with an eye-roll a permanent part of his reaction to everything.

"Yes, I said we'd earn our stay. Just show us what to do," Rex said with a gracious dip of his chin.

Karyn led the way to the kitchen.

Rex turned his head toward Travis and mouthed the words. _Stop smiling, you di'kut._

The kitchen was currently under the command of a woman named Henna Hanaford, an older woman with frighteningly good skills with a knife and cutting board. As more of Travis' squad of deaf clones worked their way into the kitchen, she deftly demonstrated how to chop an onion, the proper technique for trimming and peeling turnips, and the most efficient method for peeling potatoes. She quickly moved out on to stripping Antarian peas out of their pods, and dicing up Kibla greens, and finished with making exceptionally short work of chopping up Bith beans. Rex was admittedly spellbound by her knife-wielding skills. He wasn't the only one. As she finished her demonstration of chopping the ingredients needed for a winter stew, the clones watching started hooting and clapping their appreciation.

Henna flushed. "Oh my, I was not expecting that reaction." She laughed. "Alright, you silly young men, let's put you to work."

Why was it the people of this town that made Rex feel younger and more carefree? The weight of the war didn't seem to touch them as much here. It was a strange thing as these people had suffered their own war.

But, as he worked side-by-side in the kitchen with his brothers, enjoying the simple, mindless task of peeling potatoes, the laughter of the voices around him warmed and soothed his soul.

# # #

The dinner went very smoothly, with the townspeople sitting interspersed with the clones, talking and laughing together. The food was simple fare, mainly the large pot of winter vegetable stew the clones had helped prepare, along with an assortment of smaller dishes, loaves of bread and simple fruit desserts brought by the town's people. His men ate with great gusto, laughing and telling stories enthusiastically amongst themselves and to the townspeople interspersed amongst them.

Hok sat propped up on a cot in the corner, catching up with his squad of clones. His host, Xyra, sat nearby, watching them with an amused smile. The scouts both spoke and signed as they conversed and he could see Xyra's keen interest in learning their unique sign language, studying their rapid hand gestures.

The other bio-beds were positioned near Hok for ease of moving the beds in and out of the hall. Hok introduced Catcher, who'd returned to his bio-bed for the evening, to Ashla, Xyra, and Jade. The ARC Captain was not shy and ended up speaking to all of three of them at length.

More of the townspeople came over to the men in the bio-beds to say hello and introduce themselves. Rex was surprised they were not off-put by the men's clearly visible disability. But, they had no end of visitors throughout the evening.

Roseanne brought over an older Andoan male and his wife to meet Razor. It was almost an odd sight to see any men on Ando, other than his brothers, but there were a few men stopped with age. Killtric spoke with Razor, at length, the two of them deep in discussion. Rex saw her drag Mako away to introduce him to another older couple. The young bomb squad specialist turned medic was clearly out of his element, but the older couple were patient in their efforts to draw him into a conversation. 

"It's going well," Karyn said, bringing Rex a cup of root-caf and a fruit compote.

He smiled at her gratefully. He could not carry anything with his crutches, so he wasn't able to retrieve any of these items himself. Mako had brought him a bowl of stew earlier.

"It is," Rex said, taking a long dreg of caf before digging into the compote. It was good to see the men have a solid meal again.

"I don't think there will be any issues in finding good housing situations for any of your men here," Karyn said with confidence. "Your men are very well-liked." She pointed to Travis, who was already walking around the room, datapad in hand. "Travis is updating the master list of where your troopers will be staying."

Travis glanced over at them, and Rex signed back to him from across the room, expressing his appreciation for his work. Travis nodded and went back to work.

"He's a hard worker," Karyn said, as they both watched Travis.

"Oh, he is a great many things, that's for sure," Rex said, enjoying the way the caf and the dessert were settling in his system.

An hour later, Rex could see the eyes of many of his men drooping and the men in the bio-beds looked exhausted. Rex himself felt ready to drop on his feet. Karyn was sitting on the other side of him and glanced over at him. She looked as exhausted as he felt.

She chuckled. "I think it's time we all call it a night."

Rex nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I agree."

She stood up and whistled loudly, drawing all eyes in the room toward her. "Thank you, people of Ando Town for coming tonight. And, thank you, Captain Rex, and Lieutenant Travis, for joining us this evening with your men. It is our hope this is the start of a fruitful partnership for the good of our town."

Her simple words garnered enthusiastic applause from all gathered, including Rex. There was a rightness about all of it.

She looked over at Travis who immediately began calling out names of clones and their housing assignments. She worked well with Travis, Rex noted. It was more than a physical attraction between them, although that part was glaringly obvious. The two were like-minded individuals.

The hall cleared out within minutes. A team of troopers and townspeople worked together to move the bio-beds back over to the clinic. The paralyzed men would stay there another night, to be checked over by Karyn once again, before being cleared for their new housing assignments in the morning. It was universally agreed on training needed to be provided to the families who'd volunteered to take them in and a support system of clones to come over and assist with their care.

Karyn looked at Rex and Travis. "Well, I suppose that just leaves the two of you needing a housing assignment."

"Eh, yes, ma'am," Travis said, he removed his bucket, and awkwardly rubbed at the back of his neck.

"You didn't include yourself on that list?" Karyn asked although a teasing grin was tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Eh... well, I was busy working on finding assignments for the others," Travis replied, half-heartedly, giving her a charming smile in return.

"I see," Karyn said, pursing her lips as if giving the matter great thought, "and, what about you, Captain?"

Rex hadn't given the matter any thought. He'd slept at the clinic the night before and had been continually busy for the entire day. He'd been so focused on the men, he hadn't even thought about where he'd be staying. 

Karyn put an arm around each of them. "As it happens, I have a very large house." She gave them both a scrutinizing look. "Half the time I can't figure out if you two are close friends or wanting to kill each other, but since you're both in charge of the men, it would probably be good to keep you together."

Travis cast a look over at Rex, eyebrow raised, gauging his opinion.

Karyn's house was in the center of town. It was a convenient location for reaching the rest of the men, and of course, for checking on the men being treated in the clinic.

"Alright," Rex agreed.

"Then, it's settled, then," she couldn't quite stifle a yawn. "Let's get out of here. I'm exhausted."

# # #

The next morning, after Rex had made his rounds checking on the troopers in the clinic, Karyn flagged him down.

"Captain. I'd like a word with you."

He nodded and followed her. She led the way to one of the bunks she used for exams.

"Alright, up you go," she said, patting the bunk. "I wanted to examine your patella, remember?"

"There's not much you can do."  
  
"Let me be the judge."  
  
He pushed out a sigh and relented. He carefully hopped up onto the table, removed his legs plates, and pulled apart the latch and hooks holding his bodysuit together.

Karyn reached up to switch on a powerful lamp, before examining his knee with a practiced eye. Rex had been through this time and time again over at ArmyMed. He didn't expect the outcome to be any different.

Karyn pointed to his knee. "Your injury looks different than the wounds I've seen on the other clones."

Rex nodded. "I was hit by experimental ordinance."

She shook her head sadly. "It's a sad thing when they come up with such experiments to tear people apart, but I am all too familiar after what happened on our planet."

Rex pointed to his knee cap,"The shell entered here, and exited here."

Karyn pointed to the severe burn marks on Rex's knee, "What caused this scarring?"

Rex stared down at the lightsaber burns across his knee. The two weeks he'd spent in bacta had faded the marks to a pale white, but there were still two thick angry stripes of  
scar tissue running across his ruined knee. "The bleeding wouldn't stop and there was no access to medical facilities. I was with a Jedi. She cauterized the wound."

"With what?" Karyn asked critically.

"A lightsaber," Rex kept his tone neutral, but the memory still shook him. It had been a terrible sensation. He'd been bred for battle stress, but sometimes he thought that was all a load of bantha shit.

Karyn inhaled sharply. "And you were awake for all of this?"

"Until I passed out, yes. It worked, except I lost all feeling in my leg. So, I wasn't eligible for a knee replacement. I was in bacta for a bit and had some therapy, but I didn't improve."

"So, you were shipped off and that is how you ended up on the transport with the other men," Karyn said simply. "Except they were wrong about your knee, weren't they?"

Rex looked at her in surprise. "Yes. Maybe. I'm not sure. How'd you know?"

"You rub at your leg as if to ease an ache or an uncomfortable feeling. You wouldn't be doing that if the nerves were dead. So, your body is regenerating. It just took longer than the time frame you were allotted to recover," Karyn said.

Rex nodded. "Yes, I think that is exactly what's going on." He was impressed with how astutely the doctor had grasped everything that was going on.

"You're in luck because Xyra's medical research focuses on nerve regeneration. Let's see how responsive your leg is right now. As I mentioned, I may have a solution."

"What kind of solution?" Rex didn't want to dare hope there could be a future where he could walk again. It was too painful if she was wrong.

"No promises yet. Let me finish my exam."

Karyn tapped his knee with a metal probe. Rex gritted his teeth every time she touched his knee but didn't complain. He just nodded his head, acknowledging that yes, he could feel the (annoying) metal probe.

"How long have you been having feelings from the nerves in the leg?"

"Not long. First noticed it when we were crashing. I collided with my brothers, hitting my legs. It wasn't until later that I realized both my legs hurt from that. My leg is over-sensitive to touch now, always has that pins and needles feeling to it. Our medic, Lance, gave me a shot for it. It helped for a while."

Karyn nodded, staring at his knee thoughtfully. "Alright, I need to run some tests. But I'm almost positive I can help you."

"Something other than taking my leg off at the hip?" Rex asked, half-joking, trying to distract his mind away remembering the feeling of the clone-shredder hitting his leg.

"Yes and no," Karyn said.

Rex looked at her, his brown eyes wide with concern.

"Five years ago, I'd been planning on doing a knee replacement for one of our older residents, Fran Hibbins. But, she passed on before we could do the procedure."

Rex waited patiently, still wondering what this long-dead Andoan had to do with him.

Karyn reached up to a high storage cabinet, rummaged around, and pulled out a plasti-sealed medical box.

"I still have Fran Hibbin's knee," Karyn said.

"Excuse me?" Rex asked, staring at the box, slightly aghast.

"Her replacement knee," Karyn clarified, opening up the box. "We don't have access to these anymore. But, I kept this one." She handed the box to Rex. "Fortunately for you, she was a large woman. I'll take your measurements, but I think this may fit you."

Rex peered down into the box at a gleaming, crystalline prosthetic knee. Rex had been told at ArmyMed that he was not a candidate for knee replacement, since he had no feeling in his leg. He looked down at the hermetically sealed prosthetic, perfectly sterile in plasti-wrap. He felt a surge of hope blossom inside of him. For the first time in over two months, he dared to think back to what it felt like to actually walk on his own two feet. He closed his eyes for a moment, actually getting choked up for a moment. He dared to even remember the great joy he took in taking a run every single night before bed. He was always so fast—the fastest in the 501st. He thought he would never run again. He opened his eyes again a moment later. He looked up at Karyn, his warm brown eyes meeting hers.

"Yes," he said, his voice thick with emotion, "whatever it takes."

Karyn went and retrieved some more diagnostic equipment, taking some more measurements of Rex's knee.

She nodded, smiling, "Yeah, just as I thought, you and Fran are like twins. Bless her sweet soul. Too bad we didn't save any of her dresses."  
  
Rex shot the doctor a horrified look.  
  
"What?" Karyn said innocently. "You two are the same size."

Rex folded his arms across his chest. "I wear a kama. I will not wear a dress."

She tossed back her head and laughed, making him again think of Travis. "Wait," she stopped, catching her breath, "what is a kama?"  
  
"A battle skirt, essentially."  
  
She had to stop her measurements for the movement, as she doubled over laughing.   
  
"Are we done here?" Rex shot her an annoyed look.  
  
She put up a hand. "No, sorry, almost through." She continued to take measurements of his leg, inputting them into an arcane version of a datapad, as she continued to question him on his injury. The entire conversation brought back memories of the time in the cave.

Rex's thought turned inward, thinking of Ahsoka. Ever since he'd dreamt of her, he was sure she was in trouble. But, he had no idea of where she was or how he could help her. Even after everything that happened, he still felt obligated to have her back. Maybe, especially now.

"Something wrong, Captain? You seem to be in another place right now."

Rex shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

"Yes, that seems to be your catchphrase for everything." She took several more measurements. "Alright, I'll crunch all these numbers and then we can sit down and talk about the logistics of replacing your knee."

"A new knee," Rex said slowly, his feelings very mixed on the topic. It's not that he didn't want to walk again. It was everything he wanted. But, he didn’t dare let himself hope it would work. And, it seemed selfish to take himself out of commission. The men needed him. "I'll need to talk to Travis about it."

"I understand," she said, reaching into the cabinet behind her for a small glass jar of bright green gel. "Spread this on your knee every two hours while you’re awake. Be generous in the application. It will help the nerves regenerate. Eventually, those symptoms you’re experiencing should ease up."

Rex nodded his thanks and tucked the vial into his utility belt. His emotions swirling more than he cared to admit, he quickly left the clinic. 


	54. Duty and Honor

Appo muttered restlessly in his sleep, muttering "no" and "trap" time and again. Ahsoka leaned back against the bars of the cell, watching him and chewing her lip worriedly. She couldn't do anything for the rest of the 501st, not at the moment, but she could watch over this single clone. 

"Ahsoka, you should get some rest. Anakin is right. If we are to get out of here, we all need to recover our strength."

She looked over and met the concerned blue gaze of Master Kenobi.  
  
He was right. She was battered and sore from the final fight on the Separatist-held planet. She'd kept fighting, even after they'd been surrounded, and hadn't stopped until she'd been knocked out by a club to the back of the head.

She carefully scooted closer to where Master Kenobi was leaning against her cell. "I can't sleep, "she confessed. She turned back around and looked toward Commander Appo. "Master, he was shot while protecting me. I can't sit back and do nothing."

Obi-Wan considered her words before responding. "Commander Appo was doing his job. He would tell you it was his duty."

Ahsoka frowned, not satisfied with this explanation. "And, what about our duty back to them? Are we to just accept their sacrifice time and again?"

"I don't like it either, but sometimes there are limits as to what we can do."

Ahsoka's voice grew quiet and she couldn't help the tinge of bitterness that seeped in. "Sometimes I don't think we do enough."

Obi-Wan's voice cut across the gloom. "Are we talking about Commander Appo here or… Captain Rex?"

Ahsoka whipped her head over and stared at Master Kenobi. The fast movement in the confining Force collar, combined with having been clubbed, made her head spin. She paused, catching her equilibrium, before responding, "That was a low blow."

Their eyes locked on each other, and Obi-Wan stared back at her for a long time. When he saw she wasn't backing down, he said, "You were talking about Force healing. It is not something to be taken lightly. Force healing is a specialized skill and very draining."

Ahsoka shrugged her shoulders, wincing against the confines of the Force collar. "Doesn't matter much anyway, does it? We're trussed up in these collars."

"Ah, now there you're wrong, " Master Kenobi, inclined his head toward his own Force collar. "These devices might be able to suppress our abilities, but they can't contain them completely. The more times you've been in one, the more you will come to realize there are limitations to the technology."

Ahsoka's eyes widened. "Can you show me?" She gave him a hopeful look. "Are you willing to help the Commander?"

He pushed out a long measured breath as if trying to determine how much strength he could spare. "Alright."

Ahsoka smiled. "Thank you, Master." She looked back toward Commander Appo, uncertain as to how to proceed. "Should I awaken him?"

"Let him sleep. We'll attempt this later, OK?" Master Kenobi gave her a patient, if weary, smile and closed his eyes.

As she watched him drift off to sleep, she realized he hadn't really moved much the whole time they'd been speaking. She wondered how bad his injuries were. She wished she'd thought to ask. She stared around at the dimly lit walls of her cell, unable to sleep. She didn't feel like meditating either. She was happy she'd found a way to help Commander Appo. But, how were they all going to get out of here?

# # #

"Up! Move it!"

Ahsoka was harshly awakened out of a sound sleep a short time later by activity in Master Kenobi's cell. The lights were flipped on. After all that time in the dark, the bright lights were absolutely blinding. As she squinted and tried to figure out what was going on, she was surprised to see that Master Obi-Wan had not one, but two cellmates. One was wearing a few pieces of blue and white armor, although most of his plates were missing, and the other had just enough of his plates left for Ahsoka to determine he was 212th. Both were lying on the far side of the cell, barely moving. Ahsoka assumed they must also be injured. It was unlike clones to stay down for long. They looked up, though, in bleary confusion as the guards swarmed into the cell.

"Not you!" the guards said, kicking the two clone troopers aside. They headed straight to the back of the cell, and two of them grabbed Master Kenobi by the arms.

Ahsoka stared openly at the Kaz'harians. The battle had been so quick and confusing she hadn't gotten a good look at their new enemy. Their captors were imposing—with body structures similar to Gamorreans, except their skin tone was grey, instead of the traditional Gamorrean green. But, unlike the porcine facial appearance of the Gamorrean, the Kaz'harians had a distinctively simian facial structure and a layer of dark hair covering their bodies. She also knew it would be a mistake to compare these Kaz'harians to other species. They were unlike anything they'd faced before. This new Separatist ally had managed to capture two Legions and their Jedi.

Obi-Wan cried out in pain as he was seized by the arms and hauled up.

"No! Master!" Ahsoka objected as she watched him get dragged off by their captors.

"Quiet! You!" one of the Kaz'harian guards yelled out, jabbing a blunt pike through the bars. It was headed straight for Ahsoka's right eye, but instinct had her dodging to the side. As it was, it caught her on the shoulder. It still hurt, and she grunted from the impact. Suddenly, she was being pulled back into the darkness of her cell, out of the reach of the Kaz'harians.

"Hey! Let me go!" Ahsoka protested, focused completely on Obi-Wan. A hand clamped over her mouth.

"Commander! Quiet!" Appo hissed urgently.   
  
Ahsoka stilled, breathing heavily, pressed back against Appo's chest. They watched as Obi-Wan was dragged away. The lights were clicked off in his cell again, and everything was once again thrown into bleak near-darkness. Appo released her and they both lay back gasping.

"Are you... alright, Commander?" he asked, rolling over slightly onto his side with a pained grunt so he could get a better look at her.

"Yes," she said, ignoring the new bruising in her shoulder. "Thanks for the help."

"Appo," Anakin called over from the next cell.

"General Skywalker, sir?" Appo struggled to rise and failed, falling back heavily onto his side.

"Good work."

"Thank... you, sir." Despite his breathlessness, he was clearly pleased with the praise from his General. It saddened her, actually, how much Appo lived for such simple praise.

She turned to her Master. "Where do you think they took Obi-Wan?"

Her Master leaned against the bars of his cell, looking restless and irritable as he stared off in the direction the other Jedi had been taken. "I don't know." 

Ahsoka was quiet for a moment, chewing her lip. Then, unable to remain silent any longer, she asked, "What do they want with him?"

Anakin shot her an annoyed look, " _I - don't – know_. I have no way of knowing. I don't know what any of this is all about." His frustration was evident in his tone. "I've been locked up the same as you. Get some sleep. OK?"

Sleep? How was she supposed to sleep at a time like this? She scooted over to the far corner of the cell and tried to meditate. But, uncomfortable from her bound hands and feet, she couldn't relax enough to meditate. She pushed out a long frustrated sigh.

Even though her eyes were closed, she still sensed movement in her cell. Appo was making his slow, pained way toward her, hissing with discomfort as he moved. He carefully sat down next to her and leaned back against the cell bars.

"What is it, Commander?" she asked quietly. "Can't sleep?"

Commander Appo snorted. "My cellmate is sighing and blowing out their breath so much I'm not sure I could sleep through it."

Ahsoka's eyes widened and then chuckled, although nothing about the situation was funny. "I'm sorry."

The clone commander gave a tight-lipped smile. "I'm not tired anyway. Too wound up." He nodded his head toward her bindings, "how about we take a break from working on the collar, and maybe work on loosening your bindings up?"

Ahsoka wanted to protest. Appo was feverish and he was expending all of his energy on her. But, he was right. Maybe if she was free of her binds, some answers would present themselves with the collar. She had to get free if she was to save anyone.

She nodded and they set to work.

# # #

After nearly an hour of working on the bindings, they had made some headway.

"Yes! I can feel it loosening!" Ahsoka said, excitedly, feeling a little bit of slipping by her wrists. It wasn't much, but it was something. She looked up, and Appo gave her a wan, but encouraging smile. "Let's take a break, alright?" Ahsoka encouraged.

Appo nodded, sinking back on his haunches tiredly. He leaned back against the bars, and Ahsoka leaned back next to him.

"How are you doing?" she looked over at him, studying him in the dim lighting.

"I've been better, Commander," Appo admitted quietly. "Never thought I'd say this, but I'd welcome a dip in bacta right about now."

Ahsoka stared off into the unknown darkness of the prison, lost in memory. "Rex used to hate being in bacta," she muttered so softly it was barely audible.

Appo tilted his head and looked at the Commander. He wondered if she even realized she'd said the words aloud. It was the first time she'd mentioned Rex. From what Appo heard, and he didn't hear much because most of the other brothers didn't talk to him, but the Commander basically lost it after Rex had been decommissioned. Appo wasn't sure how to respond. The only thing they'd been taught about emotions at Kamino was to stuff them down and ignore them. But, he wasn't sure that was the best advice at this time. He thought maybe he should say something, though. "Uh..." he started awkwardly and then stopped feeling foolish. The Commander was looking at him now, though, so now he figured he had to continue on as ill-fated as this seemed to be. "I know I can never measure up to the Captain. But, I'll do my best to honor his memory, because that's what he would have wanted."

As soon as the words were out of Appo's mouth, he realized what a complete di'kut he was.

Honor his memory? He'd been Commander less than a month and the entire Legion had gotten captured. That had to be a record. Appo's cheeks burned with humiliation and he turned away.

He wanted to walk over to the farthest corner and hide but didn't have the energy. He also wanted to bang his head into the bars, but that also seemed to take too much effort at the time. He settled for keeping his eyes closed and cursing himself for being such a complete fool and a failure as a commander.

After a long pause, Ahsoka responded. "You're right, you know, it's what Rex would have wanted." Ahsoka looked up at Appo, and he could tell even if the dim lighting that she'd been crying.

He opened his mouth to object, to say how miserably he'd failed. But, she shook her head. "No. We're here through no fault of yours. You haven't even had a chance to prove yourself yet Appo. You have all the makings of a fine Commander. You just need to believe in yourself and you will make this Legion proud." Ahsoka gave him a watery smile, trying to look confident. "We've gotten out of a lot worse messes than this. We'll get out of here. All of us."

Appo stared at her, thinking he never realized until his moment how thin and small she was. He knew she was a padawan, but how old was she anyway? With tears streaking down her face, and how bravely she was trying to smile, (and failing), she looked much too young to be locked in a filthy prison in the middle of a warzone. Something in Appo's stomach clenched as he looked at her. He closed his eyes and looked away. He had no idea how to respond. Thinking he should give some kind of answer, he finally muttered: "As you say, Commander." He repositioned himself so he could reach her bindings again. "Should we try this again?"

# # #

Ahsoka was dreaming of Rex. They were back in the cave and except Rex wasn't injured. There was a fire burning in the background and soft furs spread out of the cave floor. He was laughing about something and when he turned toward her, their eyes caught and held-

"Out of your cell! Jedi scum!"

Ahsoka was harshly awakened out of her very pleasant dream by activity in Master Skywalker's cell. Once again, blinding lights were flipped on.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?"

There was harsh laughter from the beefy Kaz'harian guards. They looked back and forth at each other.

"He wants to know where he's being taken?"

"Wouldn't that spoil the lovely surprise?"

"Since you're so curious, Jedi, it's your turn for a little experimentation. Your friend seems to be enjoying it so well."

"Do all you Jedi have such high-pitched screams?"

Anakin launched himself at his captors, putting up a considerable fight for someone who was bound and in a Force collar. But, they'd brought a shock pike and he was quickly brought down.

"No! Master!" Ahsoka automatically lunged for her Master, but Appo grabbed her from behind again and pulled her back into the darkest part of the cell, restraining her until the Kaz'harians left again.

"No…" Ahsoka moaned in despair as she watched her unconscious Master get dragged roughly away. The lights were flipped off in his cell, and they were left alone once again.

Appo released her. Ahsoka whirled around, filled with anger. But, her anger immediately deflated as she saw Appo wincing, and clutching at his injured shoulder. She immediately realized eased just how painful it must have been for Appo to restrain her. He met her gaze evenly, even if his eyes were filled with pain.

The look he gave her was one that said he would do this for her time and again, willing to save her as many times as it took until he was gone. It reminded her so much of Rex she had to look away.

They were both silent for a long time.

Appo spoke first. "General Skywalker… is known to be resilient."

Ahsoka nodded half-heartedly, but they both know what was coming next. They had come for Obi-Wan and Anakin. They were coming for her next.

# # #


	55. Cody and Barriss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Jedi and a clone are alone in an apartment...

Cody opened his eyes slowly, a bit blearily. It had been a long healing session, and he'd immediately fallen asleep afterward. Barriss was still sitting by his side, in her customary place. Sometimes, it seemed as if she never left his side.

"How are you feeling?"

Cody took a moment to reply, doing a full self-assessment. Something felt _different_. He frowned, trying to identify what had changed. Then, his eyes widened as he remembered: "The largest fragment— we finally got rid of it."

"And, several of the smaller ones, too. The healing is proceeding even faster than I could have hoped. We make a good team, you and I."

She reached forward to stroke his cheek. Cody closed his eyes, basking in the warmth of human contact.

"So, there's something you keep asking me about," Barriss' lips tugged up in a hint of a smile.

Cody's brow furrowed with confusion. He constantly hounded her for information about the search for the mission Legions, but somehow he didn't think that's what she meant.

She held up a scan to show him a scan. "You've progressed so quickly, there is no longer any danger of the remaining fragments driving up into your brainstem. See?" She pointed to the small remaining pieces yet to be removed.

"That's good news," he said, cautiously.

"More than good news," Barriss reached toward his constraints and untied them.

"Yes," his mind instantly jumped several steps ahead wondering when he could begin moving about again to regain his strength. Then, all rational thought fled as spiking pain assaulted his hands. "Aaaaah!" He closed his eyes against the pain, his hands contracting into claws. A moment later, the pain struck his feet. He tried to stop himself from crying out again, but couldn't stop the whimper that escaped out his throat. He hated himself for the moment of weakness.

Barriss pushed against his mind, demanding to know what was wrong. He tried to hold back his pain, but he couldn't and in his agony, he was glad of her presence. He suddenly let go, showing her how much the blood returning to his hands and feet was hurting him. She sent a wave of calming energy over him, soothing him, and flooding his system with pain-killing endorphins. Then, she began working on him from the outside, pulling both of his hands between her own. He cried out from the movement, and she apologized, directly into his mind. She began massaging his hands, working the interior of each wrist where the binding had restrained him since his injury. She moved on to the inside of each palm, and then on his individual fingers. She then treated each of his feet, starting with the ankle, where the binding had rested, then the inside of the arch, before moving on to the heel, and each of the toes.

His pain completely eased and Cody sighed from relief. She continued to work to restore his circulation. When she worked her knuckles into the arch of his foot, he sighed with pure pleasure. No one had ever touched him in such a way before. She stroked the inside of each ankle and then worked his feet again with long sweeping strokes. He groaned. He was so immensely relieved he could feel again, and fek, he never thought he could feel anything like this...

She moved back onto his hands, gently working the fleshy pad at the base of his thumbs. He groaned again. Barriss laughed, a light delighted sound.

Cody peered one eye open. "Did you just laugh at me?" he accused, but there was no malice in his voice. He was too relaxed. He closed his eyes again."Go on," he muttered, encouraging her to continue. She laughed again, finished massaging his newly freed limbs and then went to wash her hands.

She returned to his bedside and sat down. When she sat down, the laughter and light had disappeared from her manner. "I wanted to apologize."

Cody looked at her, in surprise, "For what?"

Barriss looked up, "I should have anticipated this," she gestured to his hands and feet, "and you suffered needlessly because of me. That was a failure on my part as a healer." She was startled a moment later, to feel a pair of strong hands close down upon her own.

"Hey, look at me," he said in his lilting, commanding voice.

It was hard for Barriss to obey. She was too shocked staring down at the tanned-pair of hands gripping her own. Even though she'd freed Cody from his bindings herself, it was still such a shock to see him moving again. As if her hands had a mind of their own, one of her fingers lightly stroked Cody's hand.

Cody sucked in his breath. Then his strong brown fingers intertwined themselves with hers. The movement seemed so natural. "You did nothing wrong," Cody insisted, in his gentle, commanding tone. "I owe everything to you, Barriss. I can do this now, because of you." He gave their joined hands a gentle squeeze. "And, this isn't the first time I've had my circulation cut off from bindings. It may not be the last if this war keeps dragging on. It just caught me off-guard. The pain was a bit intense. I'm fine, though. You know, it's just that first minute or two that's a bit of a bugger."

She smiled at him fondly. "It is your attitude and fighting spirit that will make you well again, Cody. I'm sure of it."

"I'm counting on it," Cody said confidently. "Is the neck brace coming off today, too?"

"Not yet." Barriss disengaged their hands, surprised how bereft her hand felt when she did so. She reached up to touch Cody's neck brace, "There's still a few more fragments, but they're small. We'll get rid of them easily. They're not in such a dangerous place as the others. Mainly now, the brace is to support your neck from the original injury. The bones in your neck still haven't fully healed yet."

"They will, though," he looked at her as if daring to dispute his statement.

"Cody, you were in a minefield blast. Yes, the bones in your neck will heal. Just give it time."

"Commander, I'm not sure the 212th _has_ the luxury of time. Have you ever anything new?"

"No. There has been no news. Be encouraged, though, you've made such incredible progress already. Faster than I even could have hoped. We will start your physical therapy tomorrow. Get your muscles moving."

Cody brightened considerably at this news.

"Alright," Barriss said, "why don't you get some rest?"

Cody frowned. "I'm not particularly tired."

She clicked on the entertainment system in the apartment. "How about I put on a holo for you?"

"Sounds good," Cody said, "I rarely get time to watch any holos. Any chance I could get something to eat while I watch it? Something beyond a perfectly blended nutritional shake?"

Barriss shook her head. "Not yet. Your throat isn't healed enough yet. But, I'll make it extra sweet."

"Agreed. And, uh, Commander, you will sit and watch the holo with me, yes? It would be part of your duties as a healer," his lips quirked up into a smile.

"Alright," she agreed, heading to the kitchen to prepare his food. She handed him the controls for the entertainment system. The manipulation of the controls would be good therapy for his hands. Plus, she was outright curious what kinds of holos he watched. "Pick out a holo."

# # #

He started his therapy the next morning. It was exhausting.

"Are you have any numbness in your arms?" Barriss questioned, as he raised and lowered his arms time and again.

"No," Cody said, "but, my arms feel weak. I... don't like it." It was difficult for him to admit any sort of limitation in his abilities. Everything about his upbringing associated weakness with failure, but he trusted the Jedi healer.

She nodded. "That's normal. It's a result of your injury. I'm very encouraged you're not having any numbness. We can move on to weights in a few days."

Cody couldn't imagine lifting weights. He could barely get his limbs to move. He could move his feet, but not raise or lower his legs without help.

"I know this doesn't seem like a lot, but this is an excellent start, Cody. Alright, that's enough for now, let's stop with the exercises now and we'll continue on again in a few hours."

She massaged his arms and legs again, which Cody decided was his favorite part of the healing process, and then applied a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator to the back of his neck. He fell asleep before the nerve therapy had completed.

# # #

By the second day of therapy, he was already stronger.

"Your healing powers are remarkable," Barriss said. "Alright, start again. Do another set."

"You're worse than the trainers on Kamino," Cody grumbled good-naturedly, but he immediately threw himself into the task of raising and lowering a light set of arm weights for another set.

"Take it slow, Cody. Work on muscle control."

"Alright," he breathed through the exercise, focused on getting it perfect. He was gritting his teeth by the end of the set, but he knew he'd finished it to perfection.

"That was excellent! Alright, take a break."

"Have you heard anything from your Master? Any update from the commando team searching for the missing Legions?"

Barriss shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, Cody. I promise I'll tell you the moment there is any news." She didn't want to admit it, but she was starting to get worried. All of her recent comms to her Master had gone unanswered. While she couldn't pin down the feeling, she was worried something may have happened to both her Master and the commando team accompanying her.

Cody studied her. "What is it you're not telling me?"

"Nothing. It's just a feeling."

"If I've learned anything about Jedi is that their feelings usually mean something. Many times their feelings spell trouble. Are you getting one of those kinds of feelings?"

Barriss sighed. "I... don't know, Cody."

He scowled fiercely. "I'm feeling strong. Let's do another set."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello All!
> 
> As you know, I've been doing revisions from the original version of the story. Part of these revisions involves cutting out unnecessary dialogue and scenes. I've also paired down the steamier scenes so the story will no longer skirt a rated M rating.
> 
> I deleted half this chapter as Cody's thoughts later strayed into some thoughts that were... eh... less than professional. It's an entertaining bit of fluff to read, but ultimately not needed for the story. Obviously, he's attractive. She's attractive. They're both young and they've worked together before with some chemistry between them. There are some feelings there.
> 
> I also cut out a significant portion of Chapter 50. The original version of the chapter was 50 pages long and included more backstories of the other clones as they settled into Ando. I'll include a few of these stories in later pages, (Hok, Travis, Catcher and possibly even Mako), but most of the rest will be cut in the interest of keeping the story moving along quickly.
> 
> If you would like to read any of the deleted scenes, jot me a note in the comments. I've saved all of them. I can compile them all into a side story entitled: "Deleted Scenes- Whatever Happened to Captain Rex" and post it here on AO3.


	56. The Clue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka discovers reasons for hope in dark times.

Ahsoka wasn't sure if it was day or night anymore. She had initially tried to keep track of the days after her capture, but quickly the days and nights blurred together into one endless haze of shadowy grey despair. She'd established from the damp earthy smell of the place they were on some sort of jungle planet. While the dungeon itself was cold, dark and compromised of stone, duracrete and durasteel, she could occasionally detect the combined scents of vegetation, moisture, soil, and decaying plants. It was the same smell she'd detected on dozens of worlds that had wetlands and lowlands regions. These were the good smells. Beyond that, she could smell her body, which was badly in need of a wash, and the clones in the cells around her. She realized now there were more clones around than just Appo, and the two she'd glimpsed in Master Kenobi's cell.

Not only could she smell the clones now, the sweaty smell of clones who'd gone too long after a battle without a trip to the sonic, but she could occasionally hear them speaking in low tones back and forth.

Deprived of easy access to the wellspring of the Force, she was more in tune now to the rest of her senses. Her keen Togrutan hearing had gotten even better and her eyes had just adjusted to the poor lighting in the cells.

Ahsoka had just been dozing off lightly when the guards came to their cell door again. She was instantly awake and alert.

_They come for me!_

Appo was immediately awake, as well, although he was so weakened by fever he could make it as far as his knees. She could see the tension in his frame and how he was preparing to spring at their captors as they unlocked the door to their cell.

"Stand back," one of the burly guards said, a large slugthrower resting over one arm and a jagged hatchet strapped to his belt. He opened the cell door and a second guard entered from behind him.

"Hold," Ahsoka said firmly to Appo. Even without the Force, she could feel he was ready to charge their captors.

The second guard placed a bowl of greyish gruel on the floor of their cell and a cup of liquid. Without saying anymore, they turned and left again. Ahsoka hadn't realized how much tension she was holding until her knees almost sagged with relief when they left.

Appo exhaled and half-shuffled, half-crawled slowly to Ahsoka's side. He was getting weaker by the day and his fever was sapping his strength.

"They brought us food," Ahsoka said, trying to force a bit of cheer into her voice. She stared down at the bowl and cup. "Go on. You need to keep up your strength." She could actually eat with her hands bound and she was not yet so desperate she was willing to try to maneuver herself face-first into the bowl. She wasn't even sure it would work anyway with the bulky Force collar. There was no way she could eat.

Appo reached for the bowl with shaking hands and sniffed at it cautiously. "Doesn't smell like much of anything. But, I don't think it's poisoned." He looked up at her with weary, pain-filled eyes. "I think if they wanted us dead they would have done so already. They're keeping us alive for some reason."

"I agree," Ahsoka said, "they wouldn't be feeding us if they didn't want us around for a while longer."

Appo took a few sips of the gruel and then placed the bowl. He reached for the cup, once again sniffing at it before he took a sip. "It's just water. Doesn't appear to be tainted, either." He took a cautious sip. "It's alright, actually."

He scooted so he was a little closer to Ahsoka.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "What are you doing?"

He held up the cup of water to her lips. "You can't do this on your own. And, you need to eat and drink, Commander."

"No, I-" Ahsoka wanted to insist she didn't need food. But, the truth was she starving. Her stomach was tied in knots from hunger and her throat was burning from thirst. She closed her eyes for a brief second, reconciling herself to the fact she'd need to swallow her pride and accept help. "Alright, thank you." She nodded.

Appo lifted the water cup to her lip. She took a sip. Appo was right. The water was clean and untainted. As parched and painful as her throat was from the hard battle and their week of imprisonment, that sip of water was one of the best things she'd ever tasted. She put her lips up for a second sip. Appo pressed the cup to her lips again. His brown eyes intently on her face. "More, Commander?" he asked, pressing the cup to her lips again. She took a final small sip and then nodded.

"I'm good. Finish the rest. Please. You need water to combat your fever."

Appo nodded and she was relieved he didn't argue with her. Rex would have-

She stopped. Force. She couldn't stop thinking about Rex. Why did he keep coming into her thoughts? She knew he was gone. She'd been told he was dead. Yet, she still _felt_ him. Why?

"I don't know what this stuff is," Appo said, holding up the bowl of gruel at an angle so she could see it even in the dim light, "but, it hasn't poisoned me so I think we can declare it edible. Although," his lips lifted up in a small smile, "it's even worse than some of the stuff they serve in the mess, and I didn't think that was possible."

She smiled at him in return. Their small attempts at humor were all they had to lift their spirits in this dark place. He brought the gruel to her lips. The slushy mixture was cold and bland. Her palette detected a mixture of Tikit grains and Chartash oats blended together, with water as a base. While there was no flavor, it would provide some nutrition. She took several sips and then nodded. "I've had enough. You finish it."

Appo gave her a considering look. "I don't know, Commander. I think you are probably our best bet for getting out of here. You need the food more than me."

Ahsoka frowned. "What kind of talk is that? We're both getting out of here."

He gave her a sad smile. "I don't think I have much time left, Commander. But, I'll hang on as long as I can so I can help you."

His words made Ahsoka both heartbreakingly said because he said that with such finality and acceptance, but it also lit a new fire in her. "No. We _are_ getting out of here."

"I don't see how, Commander."

"I'm going to get this collar off and you're going to help me with my bindings, just we planned. So, you need to regain your strength. Finish your rations, Commander."

"Is that an order?" he asked, a small amused quirk teasing at his lips.

"No, Appo, I will leave the choice up to you, but I do want you to get well."

Appo considered this as if the thought of someone watching out for his well-being had not occurred to him. "Alright," he said after a long moment. He finished the bowl of gruel, and set the bowl aside, "but, you're finishing the water."

Ahsoka conceded and finished the few final sips of water with Appo's help.

They were both a little stronger after the food and water. For the first time, Appo was able to make some progress in loosening the bonds on her hands. She wasn't fully free, but she could feel the knot holding them easing up and getting a bit of slack. It was a good start and something she could work on now herself, even when Appo was sleeping. She could just slip her hand into space in the knot now and start working at it.

"I... need to rest.." Appo muttered, his eyes starting to roll back. He slumped to his side and passed out.

Ahsoka leaned back against the bars, working her hands into the little space in the ropes. As she did, she started to think about her last conversation with Master Kenobi.

Before he'd been taken away by the Kaz'harians, he'd said if one wore a Force collar long enough, they would learn its' limitations. What did that mean?

Ahsoka closed her eyes and sank deep into meditation, but as she did so, she focused her energies on the bulky, burdensome, electronic device fitted around her neck.

Master Kenobi had left her a clue, a key to finding their way out of this cell, and she was going to find it.


End file.
